BEFORE YOU DO ANYTHING:
Reach out to Fire Safe Sonoma. Fire Safe Sonoma is the Firewise USA Regional Coordinator for Sonoma County. To get started please reach out to [email protected] and make an appointment for a virtual meeting to learn about the process. If you start an application without us we may have to abandon it and begin again.
TO BECOME A FIREWISE COMMUNITY, YOU WILL NEED TO:
- Form a core group. Start by identifying your leadership team and your community boundary area.
- Engage your community and fire agencies – hold a kickoff event/meeting – collect community characteristics data
- Complete a Wildfire Risk Assessment (Fire Safe Sonoma does this part)
- Identify recommended mitigations and create a 3 Year Wildfire Action Plan
- Provie an accounting of work that has already been completed within the past 12 months. (This is measured in hours of time by home owners, money spent on improvements, and cubic yards of vegetation removed.)
- Apply for Recognition
- Continue engaging with the community and complete the one, three and five-year renewals.
To learn more about these steps and to download the Firewise USA Application/Risk Assessment and Action Plan templates, visit: Readyforwildfires/Firewise
When you are ready to begin, please reach out to [email protected].
Fire Safe Sonoma is here to answer your questions and help you through the application process.
Emerging Firewise Community Resourses:
We have put together a comprehensive list of resources for emerging Firewise USA Communities to help you along the way from emerging to a Firewise USA Community in Good Standing.
https://www.firesafesonoma.org/emerging-firewiseusa-community-resources/
Webinar: steps to become a Firewise Community in Sonoma County
This webinar has been put together by Fire Safe Sonoma to help residents wanting to work with their neighbors to become an accredited FireWise Community. It will cover the process and benefits to becoming FireWise, as well as how the Fire Safe Sonoma Team can support you along the way.
Presentation by Roberta MacIntyre, Board President and CEO of Fire Safe Sonoma
