Wildfire risk reduction grants available in west county
These grants are available to all residents in Forestville, Monte Rio, Camp Meeker and Occidental—and not just to people with low incomes
Residents in Forestville, Monte Rio, Camp Meeker, and Occidental now have a powerful new opportunity to reduce their wildfire risk thanks to a $1.1 million grant awarded to Safer West County and Fire Safe Sonoma by CAL FIRE. The three-year grant is designed to boost community engagement in wildfire risk reduction across West County.
The funding supports three key programs:
A rebate program to incentivize defensible space work around homes.
A series of educational workshops centered on creating defensible space.
Free chipping services provided by local fire departments to help manage vegetation debris.
All three programs point to the value of defensible space as a critical tool in reducing wildfire impacts. These actions—which are done to reduce the flammability of individual properties and homes by reducing vegetation and other potential “fuels” for wildfire—are critical steps towards building community-level wildfire resilience. Particularly in the aftermath of the recent LA fires, where blowing embers ignited spot fires within urban areas well ahead of the main fire’s edge, residents across California’s fire-prone landscapes have grown increasingly concerned about the risk they face—and this program can help.
“A lot of people are very stressed, obviously, about the fires and are really trying to do their best, but lots of times, they don’t have the funds to do the needed work,” Amy Beilharz, President of Safer West County, said. “The rebate and chipper programs were designed to help support residents of these four communities doing more defensible space projects around their homes, as well as activate community-wide efforts.”
The word “activate” is an especially important one here; while this grant is helpful for individual residents, the more significant benefit will come as residents learn more about defensible space and work together in collaboration to reduce risk across their community.
“This rebate is made to get people moving and help them understand that it doesn't require tens of thousands of dollars to actually improve the resiliency of your home,” Beilharz said. “But by giving people some money, we also have the opportunity to provide them with information—because volunteers visit their home to give them ideas about tasks and which ones make the biggest difference in building defensible space.
“The goal is to get a whole neighborhood to do it together. So if we can get one person on the block to do it, maybe we can get 10 more people on the block to follow suit,” she said.
Rebates of up to $1,000 are available for up to 400 homes in Forestville, Monte Rio, Camp Meeker and Occidental. The rebates are intended to match 2/3 of resident contributions—so, for example, if a resident spends $1,500 then they will receive the full $1,000 rebate. However, there is also a $500 scholarship available for residents who cannot contribute the minimum amount to receive a rebate. With the $500 scholarship and the rebate, even fixed-income or lower-income residents could have access to up to $1,500 to help them reduce wildfire risk on their properties. Actions that the rebates can support include limbing or removing trees and other vegetation close to homes and replacing mulch with gravel.
“The people in all four of these communities and most of West County are people who moved out here decades ago,” Beilharz said. “Many are now on fixed incomes and also in the past did all of their property work themselves. But now, these same people are getting older and can’t do some of that property work. This grant is meant to help assist those people in taking action that maybe 10 years ago, they would have been doing on their own.”
“We want people to understand that it is accessible funding for them, because a lot of people thought this was just for people with low income, and they didn't qualify, so they didn’t apply,” she continued. “We do have support for people with low income, but this grant is for anyone.”
This three-year project is the first phase of a long-term effort to bring funding and resources to West County for fire management projects. It’s also a major step towards increasing resident awareness of the resilience initiatives, educational opportunities, and collaborative opportunities present in West County and Sonoma County more broadly.
“We hope that through this, people in these four communities will get more involved in the work being done in their communities, whether that’s with fire safe organizations or emergency preparedness initiatives, so that we get a more robust group of residents doing this community outreach,” Beilharz said. “The more people we have doing this, the greater impact we’ll have.”
For more information about how to apply for rebates or participate in programs, visit www.saferwestcounty.org, or reach out directly to either of the contacts below.
Safer West County: Amy Beilharz, 512-422-9197, amy@amybeilharz.com
Fire Safe Sonoma: Roberta MacIntyre, 707-888-8490, firesafe.sonoma.org@gmail.com
This article is a press release from Safer West County and Fire Safe Sonoma.