Fire Safe Sonoma works to provide support to ALL types of Wildland Fire Mitigation groups Countywide.
Visit the map below to learn more about the Wildfire Mitigation Community Groups in Sonoma County. If you are interested in helping your community with wildfire mitigation efforts, contact us at [email protected] for support.
When it comes to fire prevention and preparedness, community members across Sonoma County are increasingly engaged or interested in learning how to become a part of a Wildland Fire Mitigation Group.
Fire Mitigation Groups are diverse in name and similar in focus. Simply put, they aim to bring communities together to identify and address fire risks.
In Sonoma County we have the following types of Community-led Wildland Fire Mitigation Groups:
- Firewise Communities – Nationally Recognized Program
- Local Fire Safe Councils – CA Statewide
- COPE – Recognized by Sonoma County
Firewise Communities
The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) helps communities come together to identify and manage their fire risk through Firewise USA. As the title suggests, this is a Nationally recognized program. CAL FIRE guides California Communities through the Firewise process using their state-specific application. The Firewise application includes a community Risk Assessment (updated every 5 years) as well as a three-year action plan, updated every three years. For the equivalent of every dwelling in the community, 1 hour of fire prevention work must be done per year. This can be home hardening projects or creating defensible space around structures. Firewise communities can be a minimum of 8 dwellings and a Maximum of 2500.
Fire Safe Sonoma has been identified by CAL FIRE as the point of contact for Fire Wise communities in Sonoma County and can assist in the formation of local Fire Wise Communities.
To learn more, contact Fire Safe Sonoma or visit: readyforwildfire.
Local Fire Safe Councils
Fire Safe Sonoma is the Countywide Fire Safe Council and works closely with both the California Fire Safe Council at the State level and at the Community level, with local Fire Safe Councils within the County. Local Fire Safe Councils often bring their neighbors together to create a Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP). Along with looking at fire risk, this document looks at fire history, property assessment data and fire agencies response capabilities for the community. CWPP should be updated every 5 years. After 10 years they are considered out of date and often cannot be used to apply for grants.
There is no minimum or maximum number of households/dwellings for a local Fire Safe Council and they vary greatly in size.
To learn more about Fire Safe Councils, Click HERE
Other Community Groups
Fire Safe Sonoma is an inclusive organization and we will engage with and work with any group, large or small, and formally or informally formed, that has an interest in wildland fire safety and risk reduction. Other community groups we typically work with are listed below:
Communities Organized to Prepare for Emergencies (COPE) – Mostly in North Sonoma County
- Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) – Nationally Recognized Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Program
- Meet/Map Your Neighborhood (MYN) – Mostly in Sebastopol
- Community Organization Active in Disasters (COAD) – Countywide
- Home Owner’s Associations
