Check out the wildfire risk at your Oregon property. Building codes and other requirements may depend on it.

That broader approach is exactly what Tim Ingalsbee would like to see happen. The executive director of the Eugene-based advocacy group Firefighters United for Safety, Ethics, and Ecology, he says the definition of fire risks within the interface will give property owners with a low-risk classification a false sense of security.

“They’re talking about zones and not the actual conditions of individual properties,” he said. “It’s not a bad thing as a sensitizing exercise, but all of us have to get prepared regardless of what color the map is where our properties reside. It’s about the home ignition zone.”

Ralph Bloemers, an environmental lawyer who is the director of fire safe communities for Green Oregon, agrees that “regardless of where you are on the map, hardening homes and business is the most durable, cost-effective and fire-safe step you can take.”