Local Hazard Mitigation Plan

Emergency Management Cycle The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) defines hazard mitigation as, “any sustained action taken to reduce or eliminate long-term risk to life and property from natural hazards.” Another way to understand hazard mitigation is as the prevention component of the emergency management process.

Preparedness activities are the emergency plans, training, drills, and exercises that individuals, communities and first responders participate in on almost a daily basis. These are things done to get ready for an emergency or disaster before it happens.
Response is the short-term, emergency actions taken to address the immediate impacts of a hazard.
Recovery is the longer-term process of restoring the community back to normal or pre-disaster conditions.
Mitigation activities are actions that will prevent or eliminate losses, even if an incident does occur. Mitigation can reduce or eliminate the need for an emergency response and greatly reduce the recovery period.

This may sound complicated, but we all do many of these things on a daily basis. Consider the example of a family taking their car on a road trip in the winter months. Examples of the hazards of highway travel might include vehicle breakdown, inclement weather, or a traffic crash.

Preparedness activities would include purchasing auto insurance and keeping the policy current, maintaining the vehicle so it is in good operating condition, bringing warm clothes, jumper cables, and a shovel, and having a cell phone on the trip.
Response activities might include putting on the warm clothes and using the cell phone to call for towing service if the vehicle breaks down or calling 911 if involved in crash.
Recovery would be getting the vehicle repaired and back on the road after a breakdown or crash.
Mitigation would be assuring that everyone in the vehicle wears their seatbelt while the vehicle is in motion. This is a specific action to assure that if a crash does occur, the occupants of the vehicle are protected and their risk of serious injury is reduced. Another example would be to cancel or postpone the trip if hazardous winter weather is imminent. This action would eliminate exposure to the risk altogether.

These same concepts apply to community level hazard mitigation planning. Mitigation planning is a process for county and local governments to identify community-level policies and actions that will reduce the impacts of natural hazards.

Why is Natural Hazard Mitigation Important?

Most people who live or work in Butte County have been affected by natural hazards in one way or another. Butte County and its residents are vulnerable to a variety of hazards including fire, severe winter weather, floods and even tornadoes.

Hazard Mitigation Plan

The rising costs associated with disaster response and recovery have focused the attention of federal, state, and local governments on addressing natural hazards before they occur. Obviously, torrential rains, lightning strikes and tornadoes cannot be prevented from occurring. Planning for natural hazards and implementing mitigation measures, however, can reduce the impact of such events when they do occur. Emergency response and recovery costs can be reduced. Property damage and monetary losses can be reduced. Personal injury and loss of life can be reduced. The economic and social impact on the community as a whole can be reduced. In 2007, Butte County, Biggs, Chico, Gridley, Oroville and Paradise collaborated in a planning effort to develop a Multi-Jurisdiction, All Hazards, Pre-Disaster Mitigation Plan. The plan was prepared by a consultant under the direction of Butte County Emergency Services Officer, John Gulserian. A separate Flood Mitigation Plan was prepared in January 2006.

Opportunities for Input

Members of the community have a very important role in this process. Once the comprehensive hazard assessment is complete we will be asking for your input. Please come back to this page and check for additional information in the very near future.

National Flood Insurance Program’s Community Rating System

The National Flood Insurance Program's (NFIP) Community Rating System (CRS) is a voluntary incentive program that recognizes and encourages community floodplain management activities that exceed the minimum NFIP requirements.

As a result, flood insurance premium rates are discounted to reflect the reduced flood risk resulting from the community actions meeting the three goals of the CRS:

Reduce flood losses;
Facilitate accurate insurance rating; and
Promote the awareness of flood insurance.

The CRS reduces flood insurance premiums to reflect what a community does above and beyond the NFIP’s minimum standards for floodplain regulation. The objective of the CRS is to reward communities for what they are doing, as well as to provide an incentive for new flood protection activities. The reduction in flood insurance premium rates is provided according to a community’s CRS classifica¬tion.

Resources

CalEMA my hazards
All hazards map Survey
FEMA flood designation for my parcel
2007 Local Hazard Mitigation Plan