Hazard Mitigation Plan (2017)

Shelton School District
700 South 1st Street
Shelton, Washington 98584 

The Shelton School District’s Hazard Mitigation Plan is a living document which will be reviewed and updated periodically. Comments, suggestions, corrections, and additions are enthusiastically encouraged from all interested parties.  The last full update was in 2017.  A minor update occurred in early 2023.

Please send comments and suggestions to: Rich Squire, Shelton School District, Safety & Security Manager, 101 Sargison Loop, Shelton, WA  98584 or [email protected].

Executive Summary 

The Shelton School District Hazard Mitigation Plan covers each of the major natural hazards that pose significant threats to the District.

The mission statement of the Shelton School District Hazard Mitigation Plan is to: Proactively facilitate and support district-wide policies, practices, and programs that make the Shelton School District more disaster resistant and disaster resilient.

Making the Shelton School District more disaster resistant and disaster resilient means taking proactive steps and actions to protect life safety, reduce property damage, minimize economic losses and disruption, and shorten the recovery period from future disasters. This plan is an educational and planning document that is intended to raise awareness and understanding of the potential impacts of natural hazard disasters and to help the District deal with natural hazards in a pragmatic and cost-effective manner.

Completely eliminating the risk of future disasters in the Shelton School District is neither technologically possible nor economically feasible. However, substantially reducing the negative consequences of future disasters is achievable with the implementation of a pragmatic Hazard Mitigation Plan.

Mitigation simply means actions that reduce the potential for negative consequences from future disasters. That is, mitigation actions reduce future damages, losses, and casualties. Effective mitigation planning will help the Shelton School District deal with natural hazards realistically and rationally. That is, to identify where the level of risk from one or more hazards may be unacceptably high and then to find cost effective ways to reduce such risk. Mitigation planning strikes a pragmatic middle ground between unwisely ignoring the potential for major hazard events on one hand and unnecessarily overreacting to the potential for disasters on the other hand.

This mitigation plan focuses on the hazards that pose the greatest threats to the district’s facilities and people: Earthquake, Flood and Wildland/Urban Interface fires. Other natural hazards that pose lesser threats are addressed briefly.

Table of Contents

Executive Summary (see above)

Chapter One: Introduction

• 1.1 What is a Hazard Mitigation Plan?  
  
• 1.2 Why is Mitigation Planning Important for the Shelton School District  
  
• 1.3 The Shelton School District Mitigation Plan  
  
• 1.4 Key Concepts and Definitions  
  
• 1.5 The Mitigation Process  
  
• 1.6 The Role of Benefit-Cost Analysis in Mitigation Planning  
  
• 1.7 Hazard Synopsis  

Chapter Two: Shelton School District Profile 

• 2.1 District Location  
  
• 2.2 District Overview  
  
• 2.3 District Facilities  

Chapter Three: Mitigation Planning Process  

• 3.1 Overview  
  
• 3.2 Mitigation Planning Team  
  
• 3.3 Mitigation Planning Team Meeting  
  
• 3.4 Public Involvement In the Mitigation Planning Process  
  
• 3.5 Review and Incorporation of Existing Plans, Studies, Reports and Technical Info. 
  
• 3.6 Appendix: Meeting Minutes  

Chapter Four: Goals, Objective and Action Items  

• 4.1 Overview  
  
• 4.2 Mission Statement  
  
• 4.3 Mitigation Plan Goals and Objectives  
  
• 4.4 Shelton School District Hazard Mitigation Plan Action Items  

Chapter Five: Mitigation Plan Adoption, Implementation and Maintenance  

• 5.1 Overview  
  
• 5.2 Plan Adoption 
  
• 5.3 Implementation 
  
• 5.4 Plan Maintenance and Periodic Updating 

Chapter Six: Earthquakes 

• 6.1 Introduction 
  
• 6.2 Washington Earthquakes 
  
• 6.3 Earthquake Concepts for Risk Assessments 
  
• 6.4 Earthquake Hazard Maps  
  
• 6.5 Site Class; Soil and Rock Types 
  
• 6.6 Ground Failures and Other Aspects of Seismic Hazards 
  
• 6.7 Seismic Risk Assessment for the Shelton School District’s Facilities 
  
• 6.8 Previous Earthquake Events 
  
• 6.9 Earthquake Hazard Mitigation Measures 

Chapter Seven: Flood 

• 7.1 Introduction 
  
• 7.2 Flood Hazard and Risk Assessments: Shelton School District 
  
• 7.3 Flood Hazard and Risk Assessments: FEMA-Mapped Floodplains 
  
• 7.4 Flood Hazard and Risk Assessments: Outside FEMA-Mapped Floodplains 
  
• 7.5 Flood Mitigation Projects 
  
• 7.6 References 

Chapter Eight: Wildland/Urban Interface Fires 

• 8.1 Overview 
  
• 8.2 Wildland/Urban Interface Fires 
  
• 8.3 Wildland and Wildland/Urban Fire Hazard Mapping and Hazard Assessment 
  
• 8.4 Wildland/Urban Interface Fire Hazard and Risk Assessment 
  
• 8.5 Mitigation for Wildland/Urban Interface Fires  

Appendix 1: FEMA MITIGATION GRANT PROGRAMS

• A-1.0 OVERVIEW 
  
• A-2.0 FEMA Public Assistance Program 
  
• A-3.0 FEMA Mitigation Grant Programs 
  
• A-4.0 Hazard Mitigation Grant Program 
  
• A-5.0 Annual Pre-Disaster Grant Programs 
  
• A-5.1 Pre-Disaster Mitigation (PDM) Grant Program 
  
• A-5.2 Flood Mitigation Assistance (FMA) 
  
• A-6.0 General Guidance for FEMA Grant Applications 

Appendix 2: PRINCIPLES OF BENEFIT-COST ANALYSIS

• B-1.0 Introduction 
  
• B-2.0 What are Benefits? 
  
• B-3.0 FEMA Benefit-Cost Analysis Software 
  
• B-4.0 Benefit-Cost Analysis:  Use and Interpretation 
  
• B-5.0 Benefit-Cost Analysis Example