Program Description: UC ANR’s Fire Resilience Program aims to build community fire adaptation and resilience throughout California to save lives and protect forests, agriculture, food, and other vital resources. The program provides a point of connection for landowners, agencies, local governments, and community members to work together toward fire resilience. By having UC ANR advisors focusing on wildfire, this new team helps to enhance community wildfire planning, daylight best practices on community and state levels, and build community fire adaptation and resiliency throughout California.

The University of California Cooperative Extension (UCCE) has deployed a new team of fire professionals to help California’s communities adapt and become more resilient to wildfires. This team works with California residents, landowners, agencies, local governments, tribes, and other organizations to reduce California’s vulnerability to wildfires.

The advisors are conducting community-based research and outreach, translating research findings into public-facing materials, and conducting outreach to meet the needs of the local community. The program coordinator supports the new advisor and the existing Cooperative Extension advisor network to amplify and organize the teams for effective delivery and program evaluation.

Program Impact: These new fire advisors, the program coordinator, and the existing network of UC ANR advisors and specialists are working to:

1. Enhance the use of prescribed fire to reduce fuels, restore ecosystem function, improve forest and rangeland habitats
2. Develop best management practices for fuel reduction to improve treatment efficacy and reduce ecosystem impacts
3. Incorporate home hardening techniques to build and retrofit homes for wildfire resilience
4. Incorporate defensible space standards to reduce near-home fire vulnerabilities
5. Engage with local planners to promote wildfire resiliency and best management practices.

Success stories: The current team of advisors is working on many fronts. The three stories below illustrate impacts.

• The team is working locally to build community capacity around prescribed fire by providing workshops and hands-on, live-fire trainings and supporting and formalizing Prescribed Burn Associations (PBAs). Team members work regionally and across the state to support policy development for prescribed fire. The team is also conducting prescribed fire research to provide fact-based evidence for the restoration and management of fire-adapted landscapes.

• Fuel reduction is essential for protecting communities and restoring fire-adapted ecosystems. The Fire Team provides workshops to help landowners learn how to apply science-based management practices, find contractors, permit projects, and secure funding for non-commercial fuel reduction. Additionally, team members are working on testing treatment alternatives and understanding cost comparisons in different ecosystem types.

Permitting fuel reduction projects can be challenging. Yana Valachovic and colleagues published a guide to help landowners and project proponents navigate CEQA. The publication scales from single-property projects to community-scale, multi-jurisdiction forest fuel reduction projects. This publication has been widely utilized by state agencies, community groups, and land management consultants. See Valachovic et al. (2022) Planning and permitting forest fuel-reduction projects on private lands in California. UC ANR Publication 8716. https://anrcatalog.ucanr.edu/pdf/8716.pdf.

• Education is a cornerstone of the team’s efforts. They work with California residents, landowners, agencies, local governments, tribes, and other organizations to reduce California’s vulnerability to wildfires through one-on-one consultations and educational events. During 2022 the team delivered 47 home-hardening talks, had 60 media posts, and reached 25,097 people through these combined activities. Additionally, the team provided 15 training workshops and reached 8,864 people through these virtual and in-person events.

Fire advisor, Luca Carmingini, is testing the effects of irrigation on plant flammability at the UC South Coast Research Extension Center.

Program Description: CAL FIRE’s Land Use Planning Program assists local governments (cities and counties) throughout California as they address the risk from wildfire by planning for both existing and new development.

Program staff work with local governments and CAL FIRE Units on topics ranging from Safety Elements of General Plans, development of Community Wildfire Protection Plans (CWPP), State/Local Hazard Mitigation Plans (SHMP/LHMP), Subdivision Review identifying communities at risk and providing recommendations on fire safety via Assembly Bill 2911 (Friedman, 2018), and assist communities to become recognized through the National Fire Protection Association’s Firewise USA program. The CAL FIRE Land Use Planning Program resulted from Senate Bill 1241 (Kehoe, 2012). 

The Office of the State Fire Marshal is partnering with the UC extension program and will deploy land use planners within critical cities and counties to support their wildfire preparedness activities and emergency plans. 

Program Impact: The Wildfire and Forest Resilience funding augmented staffing to provide local technical assistance in community wildfire mitigation and land use planning. These staff helped increase the number of communities surveyed through the AB-2911 Subdivision Review Program. Additionally, these staff will assist CAL FIRE with the rollout of the new fire hazard severity zone maps to the counties with the SRA and cities with moderate, high, and very high fire hazard severity zones in the LRA. 

Resilience in Action: The CAL FIRE Land Use Planning Program works with 56 counties in the SRA and 189 cities within the LRA with development of their Safety Element which includes policies, goals, and objectives that protect the communities from the risk of wildfire. The Safety Element of the General Plan will also link (attach or reference) other planning documents such as CWPPs and LHMPs as needed. Since the inception of the program, more than 150 safety elements have been successfully updated through collaboration with our program. Additionally, California has nearly 650 Firewise USA recognized communities throughout the State. This program has nearly doubled the number of communities in the last couple years leaving CA number one leader in the nation. The Firewise program is a community volunteer-based program that outlines the efforts of the community members to organize and prepare for wildfire. 

Program Description: Defensible space coupled with home hardening is essential to improve a home’s chance of surviving a wildfire. By removing flammable vegetation and material around a home, defensible space provides a safe space for firefighters to defend a home and reduces direct flame and heat on a home during a fire. The CAL FIRE Defensible Space Inspection Program has been in place for more than 60 years. 

Inspectors not only enforce California’s defensible space rules, but the inspectors also work with residents to help them understand what specific steps they need to take to create defensible space for their home. Wildfire resilience funding is essential to the program and adds inspectors to CAL FIRE’s base program of nearly 95 Defensible Space Inspectors for 3 months each fiscal year. 

Program Impact: In 2022, the legislature tasked the Board of Forestry to enhance and deploy the defensible space laws to include the new ember-resistance zone within the first 5 feet immediately surrounding the home. 

Outreach and education to homeowners about these new standards has been crucial to helping homeowners implement the new requirements on their property. With the importance of defensible space inspections and home hardening assessments increasing, this funding allows CAL FIRE to hire each Defensible Space Inspector for a full 9-months, the maximum amount allowed for a temporary help Forestry Aide position. Coupled with other funding, CAL FIRE has added an additional 24 permanent Forestry Technicians and 28 Limited-term Forestry Aide positions to the field.

Resilience in Action: Statistics showed that during the 2022 Oak fire in Mariposa County, homes which were compliant with defensible space standards were 6 times more likely to survive an advancing wildfire. CAL FIRE inspected 83,714 homes for defensible space in 2021 and 194,176 in 2022. This number is a great representation of what additional resources can accomplish. By working the seasonal Defensible Space Inspectors for a full 9-months and adding permanent staff, CAL FIRE more than doubled the properties inspected. This engagement with homeowners gives them the opportunity to learn about the importance of defensible space and home hardening, and how to implement those mitigation strategies for their particular property. It also allows the property owner to ask a fire professional about other wildfire preparedness measures to take. It cannot be underestimated how important it is to have one-on-one in person collaboration between the property owner and the Defensible Space Inspector. 

CAL FIRE Defensible Space Inspectors discussing defensible space and home hardening with homeowner.

Program Description: Building on the success of past fuel reduction work, CAL FIRE continues working on strategically located fuel reduction projects in high wildfire prone communities throughout the State. New projects are started as soon as other projects are complete. CAL FIRE resources are committed to these projects that are vital to slow the spread of fires and provide anchor points for firefighters to implement suppression actions. Using the 2018 Strategic Fire Plan to guide CAL FIRE unit and contract counties, specific fuel reduction projects are formulated into a plan and implemented using the Unit Fire Prevention Projects funding.

Program Impact: These strategic fuel breaks and reduction in hazardous fuels reduce the severity of wildfires, while reducing the fire risk to vulnerable communities. Fuel breaks enable firefighters to approach a fire, take a stand, establish containment lines, and create safer evacuation routes for the public.

Resilience in Action: In 2022 the Santa Barbara County Fire Department completed 1,011 acres of fuel reduction as part of this program. This was accomplished through three projects including 969 acres of broadcast burning on the Spaulding-Midland project, a 30 acres of right-of-way clearance on the Alisal Road Project, and 12 acres of pile burning on the Painted Cave Community Defensible Space Project.

Electra Fire: Pine Acres Fuel Break is a 180-acre fuel break in the 2,544-acre Pine Acres VMP. Located near Jackson on the north rim of the Mokelumne River which divides Amador and Calaveras counties. The fuel break was initially completed in 2003-2004 as a 300-foot wide shaded fuel break and then was developed into a Vegetation Management Plan in 2005. It was maintained and improved again in both 2006 and 2011. It was expanded and maintained again in 2015 and 2019. The primary goal of the project was to create a shaded fuel break intended to support fire suppression and structure defense operations in the event of a wildfire coming out of the Mokelumne River Canyon. On the first four days of the 2015 Butte Fire it did just that. Due to recent maintenance in 2021, it once again was able to be used to stop the fire from progressing into the communities during the 2022 Electra Fire.

Lake Shastina Fuel Break

Program Description: California is developing the first home hardening assistance program, designed to help low-income high fire risk communities, collectively achieve home hardening and defensible space. The program is currently funded 75 percent through FEMA Hazard Mitigation Grant Program funds and matched 25 percent with state appropriated funds.

Assembly Bill 38, (Wood, 2019) directed the Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES) to enter into a joint powers agreement (JPA) with the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE) to develop and administer the California Wildfire Mitigation Program. The program is designed to encourage cost-effective structure hardening and retrofitting and facilitate vegetation management, the creation and maintenance of defensible space, and other fuel modification activities. The legislation directed the JPA to develop criteria and a scoring methodology to prioritize financial assistance to areas and community based on vulnerability to fire, the impact of future climate risk and factors that lead some populations to experience a greater risk to wildfire, adverse health outcomes, or and inhibited ability to respond to a wildfire, including socioeconomic characteristics of the areas or communities that would be protected by financial assistance. Areas eligible for financial assistance under the CWMP include State Responsibility Areas (SRA) located within any Fire Hazard Severity Zone and Local Responsibility Areas (LRA) located within a very high fire hazard severity zone.

Program Impact: The California Wildfire Mitigation Program is currently in the demonstration phase, being piloted in three select areas, Whitmore in Shasta County, Dulzura in San Diego County and Kelseyville-Riviera in Lake County. New pilot communities are also being considered for Tuolumne and El Dorado Counties. The lessons learned working with these pilot communities under the demonstration phase are being used to refine the program and build the program framework before expanding to additional areas within demonstration counties, and ultimately, across the state.

Resilience in Action: The California Wildfire Mitigation Program Joint Powers Authority has been actively updating the program framework based on lessons learned while working with the initial pilot communities. A wildfire home assessment application and training program has been developed and input from the pilot communities has instigated added features and improvements to the application and training program. The pilot communities have been actively conducting environmental review for their project areas. Procurement procedures for contracting for home retrofitting work are actively being developed. The target time frame for retrofitting the first homes in each of the pilot communities is anticipate for later this year.

Interagency staff from CAL FIRE and Cal OES discussing home hardening needs.

Program Description: CAL FIRE’s Wildfire Prevention Grants Program provides funding for fire prevention projects and activities in and near fire threatened communities that focus on increasing the protection of people, structures, and communities. Funded activities include hazardous fuel reduction, wildfire prevention planning, and wildfire prevention education with an emphasis on improving public health and safety while reducing greenhouse gas emissions. 

Building on the success of past fuel reduction work CAL FIRE works with grantees on strategically located fuel reduction projects in high wildfire prone communities throughout the State. These projects provide valuable education on wildfire mitigation action, preparedness planning, and hazardous fuel reduction projects that enhance public safety and slow the intensity of wildfires to provide firefighters an anchor point for suppression actions. CAL FIRE, with grantees, will complete these projects on a continuous basis, ensuring at least 45,000 acres are treated annually through this program. Wildfire prevention grants support the wildfire preparedness and mitigation activities of federal, state, and local agencies, Native American tribes, and private nonprofit partners. 

Program Impact: CAL FIRE awarded nearly $117 million in funding for 144 wildfire preparedness and mitigation projects across the State in FY 2021-22 appropriations. CAL FIRE is currently soliciting applications for the FY 2022-23 solicitation period which closed on March 15, 2023, where CAL FIRE will award up to $115 million from the FY 2022-23 appropriations. 

Resilience in Action: The Wildfire Prevention Grants Program funded the South Eagle Lake Fuel Treatment project that was instrumental in protecting the Lake Forest Estates community during the Hog Fire. Lake Forest Estates is a mountain community surrounded primarily by private timberlands and has been recognized as a “threatened development” in the Lassen County Community Wildfire Protection Plan. It is situated upslope of Highways 44 and 36, with both heavily travelled corridors being the source of numerous fire ignitions. The prevailing wind pattern comes from the Southwest, leaving the community vulnerable to fire starts along the highways. The treatment area extended from the community’s western edge to Highway 44, or approximately 1.5 miles from the intersection of Highway 36. 

The Hog Fire burned approximately one mile into the treated area before it was contained. The fuel reduction treatment in this area allowed firefighters to safely attack the fire from the ground with fire crews, fire engines, and bulldozers. The size of the fuel treatment (almost two miles long) allowed it to be effective not just to mitigate fire starts along the Highway 44 corridor, but also to contain this wind-driven fire that blew across the highway corridor.