Wildfire Risks main concern in community meeting with County leadership

LEAVENWORTH—The community meeting hosted by Chelan County Commissioner Shon Smith and other county representatives had a high turnout at the Leavenworth Fire Hall on Mar. 6. The Q&A meeting’s key takeaways were fire danger, law enforcement, and development.

Fire danger was a hot topic during the meeting, with concerns of prevention and emergency response. A number of different residents raised concerns of a catastrophic fire event occurring in the Upper Valley this year, similar to last year’s fires in Spokane and Maui, which Chelan County Natural Resources Director Mike Kaputa validated.

“In Upper Chumstick and then up into Plain, there's a higher risk level for a catastrophic fire event than most of the areas that you see in California. This is ground zero for wildfire risk, we know that. And kind of looking at the season, the way it's unfolding here, there's potential for that kind of event to happen this year,” said Kaputa.

Kaputa referred to the Upper Wenatchee Pilot Project Implementation, in which the Forest Service, county, and other agencies are burning and thinning 75,000 acres in the Plain and Lake Wenatchee area. According to Kaputa, the groups are also planning preventative efforts in the Leavenworth, Lower Peshastin and Nason Creek areas, such as wildfire checks, landscape treatments, and homeowner programs. 

With the Peshastin bridge project scheduled for 4 weeks starting June 17, one Peshastin resident raised concerns of the North Road detour delaying Dryden firefighters in responding to a Peshastin emergency, and suggested one responder be stationed in Peshastin. Commissioner Smith said he would look into it, but stations county wide were experiencing volunteer shortages.

Law enforcement also received a large share of questions, such as speed enforcement and behavioral health calls. In mental health crisis calls, behavioral health experts attend alongside officers to deescalate the situation. Officers also receive crisis intervention training. In response to speed enforcement, Undersheriff Dan Ozment said the department was only able to deploy three deputies over the entire county, and calls like domestic violence and stealing often take priority.

“Also with speeding, you're talking about time-specific enforcement. It's very hard for us to narrow that down on when we can be there because we could be there for an hour and nobody speeds,” said Ozment. 

Short-term rental (STR) compliance and enforcement were key points of discussion in development matters. Prior to contracting out monitoring services, the county struggled to enforce code compliance with STRs due to the fact that most bookings take place on weekends, outside of office hours. According to Community Development Director Deanna Walter, Deckard Technologies will answer complaints and enforce code 24/7, and also track bookings for unpermitted STRs.

“I'm sure you all are aware there's plenty of unpermitted STRs out there. Lots of them. They don't realize that when somebody books on AirBnB, it actually shows us through our contract with Deckard,” said Walter.

Walter reported one rental having already accrued $183,000 in fines, but the county’s legal team was taking precautionary measures before taking further action.

County Commissioners Tiffany Gering and Kevin Overbay will host similar meetings in Chelan and Wenatchee. More community meetings are slated for September. Chelan County information and contacts can be found at co.chelan.wa.us.

Taylor Caldwell: 509-433-7276 or taylor@ward.media