Mendocino County Fire Safe Council Funds Local Safety Projects

Press release from the Mendocino County Fire Safe Council:

One of this year’s Micro-Grant requests to the MC Fire Safe Council is for clearing storm-felled trees and other hazards threatening roads near Whale Gulch.

In fulfillment of its mission to improve wildfire safety throughout the county, the Mendocino County Fire Safe Council (MCFSC) is pleased to announce this year’s Micro-Grant awards. 

Micro-Grants of $2,000–8,000 are being given to selected local Fire Departments and affiliated Neighborhood Fire Safe Councils who organized to determine their highest priority risks, and proposed solutions to improve community wildfire safety. 

Local organizing is one of our most effective strategies of all for identifying and reducing hazards to our communities. Fueled with a bit of Micro-Grants funding, our local communities can achieve small but key strategic projects and help replace fear and danger in our local communities with proactive planning and action. The PG&E Corporation Foundation agreed, and matched MCFSC’s $50,000 funding, to double the amount available this year.

This year’s Micro-Grants total nearly $104,300 — more than twice as much as last year’s! — to implement 16 projects throughout the county. They will pay for all or part of these inspiring wildfire-safety purchases and projects:

• Anderson Valley Fire Department is purchasing an equipment trailer to store and transport tools and equipment for prescribed burns.
• Black Bart Fire Safe Council is working to clear brush along its roads, to slow wildfire and make evacuation and first-responder access faster and safer.
• Hopland Fire Prevention District is installing water tanks at either side of its service area.
• Hulls Valley Fire Safe Council (north of Covelo) is also purchasing a water tank and pump equipment.
• Long Valley Fire Protection District (Laytonville) is providing defensible-space home assessments, to help individual homeowners know how to be best prepared.
• McNab Ranch Fire Safe Council (south of Ukiah) will get new road signs and reflective address signs, after roads were re-named and parcels re-numbered. 
• Navarro Fire Safe Council is installing a tank for 10,000 gallons of additional emergency water feeding a new hydrant system.
• Point Arena Fire Safe Council is training Fire Safe Ambassadors, printing outreach materials, and presenting a wildfire-safety component at a community event.
• Redwood Coast Fire Protection District is purchasing a commercial-grade thermal-imaging drone, including certification training for its operators, for uses such as fire detection, scouting rural roads and terrain, and mapping.
• Ridgewood Ranch Volunteer Fire Department (south of Willits) is purchasing and refurbishing a used fire engine.
• South Coast Fire Protection District will purchase Knox Locks and Knox Boxes to facilitate emergency access through locked gates.
• String Creek and Tartar Canyon Fire Safe Council (outside Willits) is installing a water tank.
• Westport Fire Safe Council is collaborating with several groups to accomplish roadside clearing and other fuel-reduction projects.
• Whale Gulch Fire Safe Council (North Coast) is focusing on clean-up from winter storms, to clear downed trees and brush encroaching on access roads.
• Wildwood Fire Safe Council (Laytonville) will purchase new water tanks and re-locate existing ones to more accessible locations.
• Yorkville Fire Safe Council received funds in support of the Galbreath Wildlands Preserve’s Prescribed Burn education, outreach and planning project.

Most of the Micro-Grant proposals include an additional match consisting of volunteer time, donations, other funding, or donated supplies or equipment to round out the budget to get more done through cooperative effort from multiple sources. Matching contributions, collaborations with other like-minded groups, and thorough preparation and motivation tended to help the proposals score higher in the ratings.

One of last year’s Mendocino County Fire Safe Council Micro-Grants paid for piping water from a pond to a new roadside hydrant near Comptche last year.

Where possible, the Mendocino County Fire Safe Council will continue to work with groups whose proposals were not funded, either to strengthen future applications or to help find other ways to achieve their goals. MCFSC strives to assist any local group motivated toward meeting its own locally identified fire-safety needs, and encourages local organizers to ask about projects that require extra assistance or funding.

If your neighborhood was not prepared to participate in this round of funding, now is a good time to start planning for future projects and ideas! MCFSC wants to help your neighborhood become as prepared for wildfire as possible.

Find out how to join or organize a Fire Safe Council in your area by visiting the MCFSC website at https://firesafemendocino.org/ and looking in the “Prepare your Neighborhood” menu tab. Or, if you become an MCFSC member (see the “Join Us” tab), you will receive important updates, alerts and information in MCFSC’s monthly email newsletters, among other benefits.    

Funding for MCFSC’s 2023 Micro-Grant Program was supplied in equal parts by a grant from Pacific Gas and Electric Company and matching funds from the Mendocino County Fire Safe Council.

For information on Micro-Grant funding parameters, visit https://firesafemendocino.org/2023-micro-grant/, or contact the Mendocino County Fire Safe Council at 707-462-3662 or [email protected].