ASHLAND, Ore. — Ashland city council held a public meeting on Monday night to discuss an ordinance proposal for wildfire safety in Ashland. The proposal was shown to the Ashland city council a few weeks ago but tonight, they wanted to educate and involve the community.
The city has had a wildfire safety ordinance in place since the mid 90’s but it only includes a portion of Ashland. The proposed ordinance would expand the coverage of the ordinance to include the whole city.
Other parts for the proposal would restrict certain flammable plants in the city limits as well as putting rules on what materials can be used for new construction.
“Our history since 1994 in this ordinance adoption shows we’ve had a lot of wildfires that have happened outside of that zone and have damaged structures and burned people out of their homes,” Chris Chambers, Ashland Fire-Rescue, said. “So we want to apply the regulations for new construction.”
If the ordinance passes, the changes would only be applied to new construction, not preexisting homes or buildings.
There will be another public meeting on August 21.
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