Adoption and enforcement of a new code often is challenging and divisive to a community. However, Flagstaff, Ariz., had the opposite experience when it recently adopted the International Fire Code and the 2006 Wildland Urban Interface Code.

Flagstaff, located approximately 120 miles north of Phoenix, sits at 7,000 feet above sea level at the base of the 12,000-foot-tall San Francisco Peaks, nestled in the midst of the largest continuous ponderosa pine stand in the world. Flagstaff, with 65,000 residents, is the largest northern Arizona city and is served by a 100-member career fire department.

Ponderosa pine forests are extremely well adapted to, and dependent on, frequent, low-intensity wildfires, but they are extremely vulnerable to high-intensity fires. Public demands and resulting management practices during the past century have created a forest that is now severely overcrowded. Unnatural fuel accumulations, exacerbated by insects, disease and drought, have resulted in an alarming increase in both the size and severity of wildfires. The population growth has resulted in homes, businesses and infrastructure being built in fire-prone areas.

Wildfire is the number-one fire threat to the greater Flagstaff community; roughly 300 ignitions occur in and around the community per year, with the causes split fairly evenly between lightning and human actions. These fires endanger structures, trees, wildlife habitat, scenic quality and watershed capacity. In addition to serious ecosystem damage, a single large-scale fire moving into the city will most assuredly affect lives and properties and inflict serious, long-term economic harm.

Following a severe fire season in 1996, Flagstaff officials began addressing the potential loss from future events. One of the first steps was to give the fire department responsibility for the fuel-management program. In the decade prior to adoption of the Wildland-Urban Interface code, several initiatives began that helped shape public perception and lay the foundation of public and political support.

One initiative was to work with the city's community development department. That resulted in an administrative procedure requiring hazard mitigation activities on all properties prior to development. All new development was required to identify and treat the site prior to combustible building materials being allowed on-site. This involved thinning excessive trees and other vegetation and completely removing the debris of this material. This included single-family residences, large developments and commercial sites.

Not all parcels required this type of work, but most did. The developer or fire inspectors could mark trees for removal. Once marked, the site was visited by the city review team that was made up of fire, city, state and federal officials. The team could request changes but approval rested with the fire department. Flagstaff also completed a community wildfire protection plan. Flagstaff was the first community in Arizona to make this a requirement.

Another initiative was to create partnerships with key community groups and engaged political leaders. “The fire department has taken council members and other community leaders on field trips, providing an opportunity to view the magnitude of wildfires, as well as the benefits of forest health treatments”, says Mayor Joe Donaldson. “This brings clarity and political will to change the status quo to better protect our home town.”

The fire department also hired professional foresters and trained others as certified arborists. This professional expertise, along with experienced wildland firefighters, provided undisputed credibility for the effort. When needed, additional academic expertise is available at nearby Northern Arizona University's School of Forestry and the Ecological Restoration Institute.

The effort also gained momentum because independent studies confirmed Flagstaff's wildfire threat, and numerous large fires have raged in the area periodically. The 2006 Woody Fire was suppressed successfully when it encountered an area previously treated by forest thinning and prescribed fire.

All this led to the successful adoption and enforcement of the WUI code, one that occurred with virtually no opposition and was viewed as the logical outcome of prior efforts.

The WUI code was adopted in conjunction with the city's adoption of the 2006 International Fire Code, which replaced the Uniform Fire Code. Two local amendments to the IFC complement the WUI code: prohibition against wood roofs, and cancellation of community-sponsored firework displays when fire danger reached a very-high or greater level.

Prohibiting wood roofs was not difficult because the department used public education to make its case. It used advertisements to show that wood roofs are a common cause of home loss during wildfires. Media coverage of fires events also helped with this. In addition, wood roofs have fallen somewhat out of favor, and those with the skills to install them are not as numerous as in the past.

Likewise, controlling fireworks shows was not too difficult. There were times in the past when planned Fourth of July fireworks shows had been canceled due to fire danger. Also, some in the community questioned the wisdom of having fireworks shows when they were held. The year prior to adoption of the code, Flagstaff did cancel fireworks. But an adjacent community went ahead with its show and immediately had three wildfires, which sparked an outcry in the local media. Vendors and those who finance the shows, wanted a consistent go/no-go decision model, rather than an arbitrary decision. In the code, Flagstaff tied its policy to the U.S. Forest Service Fire Danger rating by canceling for very-high and extreme fire danger levels. Had the code been in effect, cancellation would have occurred in eight of the past 10 years.

The code-adoption process occurred over an 18-month period, during which Flagstaff officials included the home-builders association, real estate and insurance agents, community leaders, engineering firms, developers and other stakeholders in the process. These efforts included group meetings and one-on-one discussions.

Because of this process, city officials were able to incorporate almost all input into local amendments.

One amendment called for development of an interface map depicting where the code applied. The resulting map shows that the entire community, minus the downtown business district, the commercial corridor immediately adjacent to the main state highway, and the airport, is within the interface.

Another amendment drives the type of ignition-resistant construction materials that are allowed in specific areas. Local material costs show that these fire-wise building components add little, if any, cost to construction. For the past several years, Flagstaff has had an on-going ad-hoc test for deck materials. The results confirm that flammable materials that accumulate or are stored under the deck determine its flammability. This problem is better managed via education and enforcement than by requiring stem walls or other barriers between the deck and the ground. However, certain deck materials are prohibited. Composite materials that have a high percentage of petroleum product, are lightweight or have channels are problematic should they ignite.

Another amendment tightened allowable wire mesh opening from G inch to J inch. And flame-spread-rating of exterior building materials is now used instead of the fire-resistance rating. This was done because the primary vector is spread across the surface of material (up an outside wall into the attic) as opposed to penetration of material and movement into the attic. A fire-resistant wall assembly can still transmit fire up its surface and into the attic.

Flagstaff's goal was to create and maintain a healthy forest ecosystem and a fire-wise community. Adopting the WUI code was one more step in that direction; it is one more tool in the toolbox.

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Chief Summerfelt directs the Flagstaff (Ariz.) Fire Department's wildland fire management program. Summerfelt has served on national interagency incident management teams, and is currently the incident commander for the Rocky Mountain Type I Team. He has served as a cadre member of the National Prescribed Fire Training Center, and is currently a staff member for the S-520 (Type I Command and General Staff) course of the National Advanced Resource and Technology Center in Tucson Ariz. He is an instructor for the National Fire Academy's All Hazard Incident Management Team course.

Jim Wheeler, deputy chief and fire marshal with the Flagstaff Fire Department, contributed to this article.