Beginning Wednesday, May 18 fire departments and community-based organizations in California can submit applications for this year’s wildfire safety and awareness grants. Applications must be submitted by 11:45 p.m. on June 17, 2022 at the California Fire Foundation, CFF, website. Award notification will begin mid-July, 2022.
Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) and The PG&E Corporation Foundation (Foundation) are continuing their partnership with the California Fire Foundation to (CFF) increase wildfire safety and preparedness. PG&E and The Foundation are providing $1.4 million, in aggregate, to CFF’s Wildfire Safety and Preparedness Program (WSPP).
Now in its fifth year, the program’s objective is to raise public awareness about wildfire safety and deliver resources to underserved communities in high fire-risk areas. It includes a grant program that awarded 54 local fire departments, fire agencies and community groups $670,000 in funding last year.
Since 2018, the CFF, which administers and manages the WSPP, has awarded 199 grants to fire departments and fire agencies statewide, focusing its efforts in Northern and Central California. Funding targets communities identified as having extreme or elevated fire risk as identified by the California Public Utilities Commission.
“California’s drought, coupled with drier, hotter conditions are putting communities at risk. The Wildfire Safety and Preparedness Program is a partnership with PG&E that was created to address the increasing wildfire risk,” said Rick Martinez, Executive Director of CFF. “Our partnership over the last five years, in which California has seen an increase in fire activity, has played an important role in helping local communities become more fire-safe.”
Over the past five years, PG&E has provided $6 million in total support for fire safety awareness through the WSPP. The charitable contribution is shareholder-funded, not paid for by PG&E customers.
Since 2018, WSPP has funded:
Specialized fire equipment and personal protective equipment;
Defensible space and vegetation management efforts;
Fuel/hazard reduction programs;
Fire prevention and emergency preparedness education including senior citizen wildfire preparedness programs;
Fire safety outreach campaigns including 12,000 brochures targeting underserved communities in English, Spanish, Chinese, Hmong and Vietnamese;
Partnerships with community groups in high fire-risk areas to distribute fire-safety information.
“At PG&E we’ve taken a stand that catastrophic wildfires shall stop. But we know we can’t do it alone. It will take all of us working together to mitigate the wildfire risk, and help our hometowns be better prepared and be more resilient to this growing threat,” said Sumeet Singh, PG&E Executive Vice President, Chief Risk Officer and Interim Chief Safety Officer.
The CFF, a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization, aids firefighters, their families and the communities they protect. Formed in 1987 by California Professional Firefighters, the California Fire Foundation’s mandate includes an array of survivor and victim assistance projects and community initiatives. More information is available at cafirefoundation.org
The CFF’s Firefighters on Your Side program, also supported by PG&E, provides multi-lingual, culturally relevant fire safety messaging in both digital and print form, to assist the public in staying safe.
The WSPP develops and distributes in-language fire-safety messaging targeting Spanish, Chinese, Hmong, and Vietnamese communities. These efforts include a comprehensive media campaign consisting of outdoor billboards and in-language television, radio, and digital ads.
Pacific Gas and Electric Company, a subsidiary of PG&E Corporation (NYSE:PCG), is a combined natural gas and electric utility serving more than 16 million people across 70,000 square miles in Northern and Central California.
