Senator Padilla Introduces Bipartisan Bill to Create New Community Wildfire Resilience Grant Program

January 7, 2026 – U.S. Senators Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) and Tim Sheehy (R-Mont.), co-chairs of the bipartisan Senate Wildfire Caucus, announced bipartisan legislation to establish a new grant program to help local communities defend themselves from the growing danger of wildfires. The Community Protection and Wildfire Resilience Act would invest $1 billion annually to empower communities to implement additional science-based methods like home hardening for mitigating wildfire damage by funding new Community Protection and Wildfire Resilience Plans developed in coordination with community members, first responders, and relevant state agencies. The new community hardening grant program would be housed within the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). The bill would also add home hardening as an allowable project under the U.S. Forest Service’s Community Wildfire Defense Grant program.

Specifically, the bipartisan Community Protection and Wildfire Resilience Act would invest $1 billion per year to:

• Establish guidelines for communities to conceptualize new Community Protection and Wildfire Resilience Plans (CPWRP) that are developed in coordination with community members, first responders, and relevant state agencies. CPWRPs will focus on implementing strategies and activities relating to:
• • • Improving early detection technology, public outreach and education, alerts and warnings, evacuation planning, evacuation execution, and access for first responders;
    • Addressing vulnerable populations, including the elderly and those with disabilities;
    • Hardening critical infrastructure and homes;
    • Applying community-scale defensible space across contiguous areas;
    • Building local capacity to implement and oversee the plan;
    • Deploying distributed energy resources like microgrids with battery storage;
    • Implementing strategic land use planning;
    • Educating community members; and
    • Coordinating with existing wildfire plans like a Community Wildfire Protection Plan.
• Provide grants of up to $250,000 to develop a CPWRP and grants of up to $10 million to implement a CPWRP:
• • • Grants will be prioritized for low-income communities that are at high risk for fire or wildfire and communities recently impacted by a major wildfire.

• Complete a report on all federal authorities and programs to protect communities from wildfires;
• Study how a CPWRP could be used as certification for insurance companies assessing community resilience;
• Continuously update wildfire hazard maps;
• Assess impediments to emergency radio communications across departments and agencies; and
• Allow for structure hardening to be covered under existing community wildfire protection programs.