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• Wildfire Risk Grant Staff Report

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Upgrading address signs for 12,000 properties and creating a defensible space program are two goals Curry County staff hope to achieve if they obtain a $500,000 Wildfire Risk Reduction Grant, Monica Ward told commissioners Monday.

Ward, Curry’s emergency services manager, said she had met with the Curry County Fire Defense Board to prioritize projects for the 2022 Community Wildfire Risk Reduction Grant. She said representatives of the local fire districts asked the county to apply on their behalf so they wouldn’t “duplicate the work.”

Commissioners unanimously authorized Ward to submit the grant application at a special meeting Monday. The application is due Tuesday.

According to Ward’s staff report, the Community Wildfire Risk Reduction Grant was created through Oregon Senate Bill 762 and aims to promote wildfire mitigation statewide. Grant dollars must be spent by March 31, 2026. The county does not have to provide contributing dollars to receive the grant, Ward said.

If the county receives the grant, Ward said the plan is to replace address signs that are in the right of way.

“The homeowner doesn’t have to do anything,” she told commissioners. “It’s just when we went on backroads, some of them you can’t even find because they’re covered with foliage and they’re really small. It’s a life safety issue for the fact that first responders cannot actually find these homes. If you have a longer driveway it’s going to be at the end of your driveway on the main road so the first responders know what addresses are down that road.”

Though she didn’t have dimensions available Monday, Ward said the signs would be larger so first responders could read them at a distance.

As for creating a defensible space program, the county would use grant dollars to hire contractors who would clear space for individual homeowners as well as around critical infrastructure within the county, Ward said.

Other priorities if the county receives Wildfire Risk Reduction Grant dollars is to create “Are you Ready?” Wildfire preparedness books and to help pay for a Curry County Preparedness Expo, Ward said.

The Curry County Board of Commissioners will hold its regular meeting at 9 a.m. Wednesday. Among the items on the agenda is a request from Robert and Kathleen Workman to reduce short-term rental fees for a Gold Beach fourplex from $8,000 to $2,000, according to the staff report.

Meetings are held at 9 a.m. Wednesday in the Courthouse Annex, 94235 Moore Street in Gold Beach. For more information, visit www.co.curry.or.us.

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