Locate buildings out of fire-prone areas

Rationale: Locating facilities out of fire-prone zones and managing for potential fire risks decreases the immediate risk of mortality, injury, and PTSD from wildfires, and mitigates the longer-term risk of degraded indoor air quality from wildfires, which is linked to respiratory conditions such as bronchitis and can also aggravate existing chronic heart and lung disease.

Requirements

Demonstrate compliance with one of the options below:

Option 1 - Fire-Prone Areas (Full Credit):

To achieve full credit, demonstrate compliance with all the following requirements:

1. Identify the wildfire likelihood, as defined by the USDA Forest Service*, within the project.

2. Locate all buildings within the project outside of fire-prone areas*.

*USDA defines wildfire likelihood as the annual probability of wildfire burning in a specific location. The wildfire likelihood can be found at wildfirerisk.org/. Fitwel defines fire-prone areas as those identified as having a 90th percentile or higher for wildfire likelihood indicated by the USDA Forest Service Wildfire Likelihood Map.

Option 2 - Fire-Risk Mitigation (Partial Credit):

The project may achieve partial credit if located in a fire-prone area by implementing fire-risk mitigation practices that meet the below requirements:

1. Identify the Wildfire Likelihood, as defined by the USDA Forest Service*, within the project.

2. Implement a minimum of two of the following qualifying fire-risk mitigation practices:

• establish and implement a maintenance plan to ensure regular removal of combustible material such as dry leaves and grass from exteriors and roof gutters
• install class-A metal roofs
• cover vent openings with 1/8-inch mesh screening
• replace mulch with crushed stone or gravel instead in the immediate zone (0 to 5 feet around the building)
• ensure all siding material is fire-resistant, such as brick, fiber cement, plaster, stucco, or dual-pane tempered glass.

Compliance Documentation

Types of compliance documentation required:

• Annotated map
• Annotated plans