MENDOCINO COUNTY FIRE SAFE COUNCIL

Our mission is "To inform, empower and mobilize county residents to survive and thrive in a wildfire-prone environment." Wildfires are an integral part of the California ecosystem, and our main goal is to prepare people residing in vulnerable areas to:

• better understand wildfire risks and behaviors
• protect their homes from ignition in a wildfire event
• have a safe and pre-planned evacuation if needed
• organize with neighbors to accomplish all of the above, and more.

Our strategies to accomplish our goals include:

• education of the general public through media interviews, press articles, blogs, social media posts, website videos, publications, and events
• road-clearing, fuel-break and hazard-tree removal projects for safer egress for evacuating residents and safe and successful ingress for first responders
• chipper days in which residents clear defensible space around their homes and have their cleared brush chipped, free of cost
• advocating with local government to support hazard mitigation and other ordinances and initiatives
• encouraging and supporting Neighborhood Fire Safe Councils by educating about their effectiveness, holding leadership meetings, offering information, fiscal sponsorship, access to chippers, discounts on emergency alert services, etc.

The Mendocino County Fire Safe Council receives strong support from state and local governments and organizations, fire professionals, and the general public. We receive significant financial support from all levels of government as well as local sources including a growing membership of individual supporters. Our Executive Director has broad-based community-organizing, business and nonprofit experience, and he has been reinvigorating what was for years a nearly inactive organization. We enjoy a great deal of community appreciation and recognition of the importance of this work throughout the county, and expect it to continue and expand in coming years.

In Fiscal Year 2021-22, we accomplished the following:
• organizational stability and vigor continue to grow: we became a formal employer, adopted an Employee Handbook & other policies, and expanded our board and staff;
• our Community Chipper Program provided 105 Chipper Days to over 1,000 residents;
• we established a Defensible Space Assistance for Income-Eligible senior/disabled, low-income residents, providing free brush-clearing, etc. to those who cannot do their own; 109 homes were treated through this program last year;
• we launched a Micro-Grant Program to assist local fire departments and fire safe councils with small priority projects or purchases; in its first year, 11 groups received $50,000;
• we created Emergency Responder Maps with specific local information needed by responders but not on regular maps, plus documentation for other areas to do the same;
• we began a Home Assessment program in which homeowners can be educated and advised about specific steps they can take to make their property more wildfire-safe; some of these events include neighbors and community members to further raise interest & awareness;
• 531 reflective address signs were created & distributed for improved responder access;
• we began hiring off-season local fire district personnel to do defensible-space and related work where travel distances were prohibitive for our own crew & equipment;
• a growing number of road-clearing, fuel-break, and other on-the-ground projects have been completed or are ongoing or in planning stages;
• we expanded our equipment inventory with a trailer, chip truck and other equipment;
• regular meetings continue to be held of both our Neighborhood Fire Safe Council leadership and our Technical Advisory Group;
• we continue outreach and education through community meetings, articles, blogs, social media, etc plus printed/mailed items such as "A Beginner's Guide to a Wildfire-Ready Home";
• both membership and Neighborhood Fire Safe Council organizing have expanded significantly this year.