With fire season in the rear view, local government leaders continue taking steps to make fire prone areas more resistant. On Monday, Nov. 10, Deschutes County Commissioners directed staff to advance standards to the planning commission that would create building hardening standards for new developments based on section R327 of the Oregon Residential Specialty Code. Over the summer, when state lawmakers passed Senate Bill 83, which repealed a controversial state wildfire hazard map, it gave local governments the authority to adopt safety standards within their own communities, if they choose.
Section R327 outlines the type of fire-resistant roof material allowed, gutters must have a way to prevent the build-up of leaves and pine needles, exterior walls and decks must be non-combustible and windows must be tempered glass or have a fire-resistance rating of not less than 20 minutes. Questions surround how much extra it would cost to build new homes with those requirements. Deschutes County Senior Planner Kyle Collins told commissioners it would likely be in the neighborhood of an additional 2% or 3% for a 1,700-square-foot home. A study posted on the website of the Building Codes Division of the Oregon Department of Consumer and Business Services put the cost as high as 11%, but is based, in part, on a California study.
County commissioners are hoping the public hearing with the planning commission, which is expected before the end of the year, will help clarify the cost.
“We’ve talked about this for years and I’ve asked builders and the Builder’s Association…a few times over the years, ‘I don’t think this is going to cost too much, any thoughts?’ And they’re like ‘Oh maybe, maybe not,’ Commissioner Tony DeBone said during the meeting. “But this will be the moment. We’re really talking about it and it’s really in front of the planning commission…just for community members and builders to make sure we’re hearing back from them. I don’t see it as a big lift. It seems appropriate…in Deschutes County to have R327 standard as an expectation when you’re building new construction.”
The home hardening standard is expected to return to the Deschutes County commissioner agenda for a second public hearing sometime in January.
SB83 also directed the State Fire Marshal to develop a model defensible space code that local governments can choose to adopt or not. Deschutes County commissioners say they are interested in having a universal defensible space code for properties within the county and plan to revisit that issue once the state is finished, which is expected to be by the end of the year.
“I think when we get to defensible space, which will affect a vastly larger number of properties, that we’ll want to do a more in-depth public process,” Commissioner Phil Chang said.
The City of Sisters is also taking steps to permanently adopt the R327 home hardening code. The City Council temporarily adopted the amendment in August, but is seeking to make it permanent by April 2026. A public hearing is scheduled for Nov. 19.
There’s a growing concern among local leaders about the growing intensity of wildfires over the years. Eight local, state and federal representatives gathered for a roundtable in Bend on Nov. 6 to discuss the urgent need for stronger prevention measures. In attendance were Bend Mayor Melanie Kebler, Redmond City Councilor Kathryn Osborne, Deschutes County Commissioner Phil Chang, Former Operations Chief for Bend Fire & Rescue Bob Madden, State Sen. Anthony Broadman (District 27), representatives from U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley and Rep. Janelle Bynum’s offices and Central Oregon LandWatch Executive Director Ben Gordon.
Much of the discussion focused on close calls with recent fires like the Flat Firenwhich came within two miles of Sisters last August and the Euston Fire in June northwest of Redmond.
Osborne described the panic and damage caused by the Euston Fire.
“It started right outside town and our children had just gotten home from school. Parents weren’t home from work yet and the wind and the heat of that fire, it spread very rapidly and it triggered our power to go down, which then caused a hard stop on our water pumps, which in turn then caused the pressure back up and our pipes burst right on Airport Way. So this caused a large sinkhole. It shut down our city.” According to Central Oregon Fire Info, a person burning cheatgrass caused the 36-acre Euston Fire.
The Flat Fire, which burned 3,300 acres putting thousands of homes at risk, is considered a success story despite burning four homes, six structures and traveling from just west of Lake Billy Chinook to two miles outside of Sisters.
“One of the key lessons from the Flat Fire was we can prepare for fires and mitigate the worst impacts that are possible from a fire,” Chang said. “The reason that we did not lose more homes, besides heroic efforts by firefighters, was because we had done the work across the landscape. There were hundreds of homeowners who had put defensible space around their homes. There have been large landscape level fuels reduction investments in the private lands.”
Sen. Broadman recently toured one of the properties off Wilt Road. “I was standing in the perimeter of the Flat Fire still going, with our State Fire Marshal. We were looking at the private landowner’s property who essentially had prevented that fire from running further south.”
Zillow now includes a Fire Factor in high-risk areas on homes for sale, providing a rating on how likely the area will be impacted with wildfire, giving a summary of past fires and the future risk. For instance, a home listed for sale on Crooked Horseshoe Road in Sisters has an eight out of 10 fire factor. Zillow says there have been 58 large wildfires within 20 miles of that property since 1984 and there’s a 5.6% change of another one within five years. It also states a separate wildfire insurance policy is likely required.
“Our job in the legislature, with our federal partners, local partners, tribal partners, is to make sure that we’re planning for the economic reality,” Broadman said. “We’re going to be spending a lot more money on mitigation, on prevention as well as on suppression.”
The Deschutes National Forest has continued pile burning operations to reduce hazardous fuels, even with the government shutdown. The most recent work was done the week of Nov. 5, on nearly 250 acres 10 miles northwest of Bend and another 200 acres eight miles southeast of La Pine.
When asked about the impact of the shutdown, a spokesperson with the U.S. Department of Agriculture told the Source, “Currently, the national forests and grasslands will remain open to visitors and wildland firefighting, disaster response and some prescribed burns will continue. This may change due to the length of the shutdown.” The House of Representatives was expected to vote Nov. 12 on a bill to reopen the federal government.
The roundtable panel is urging stronger prevention measures with funding and policy support from the state and federal governments. The group says federal funding cuts to the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management are hampering efforts.
“There’s very little we have control of when we’re talking about wildfire,” Chang said. “We cannot control the weather…We cannot control when lightning is going to strike, when someone’s going to be dragging their chain on their trailer and throwing sparks. One thing that we can control is where we build our homes and what the landscape around our homes is like.”
This article appears in the Source November 13, 2025.
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