Fire Safe Council HCT (Hollydale/Canyon/Terrace) of Forestville, CA is a volunteer organization dedicated to making our community safer from catastrophic wildfires with education, resource sharing, partnership, and grassroots action.
Our fire council was established summer 2021, emerging organically out of growing care for the community and the rising need to connect. In the aftermath of several evacuations and close calls in previous fire seasons, our council members joined efforts to pool our skills, resources, and connections.
We are a council of multi-generational river rats and newcomers, bound by reverence and loyalty to our neighbors, earth, and community. Our council members have collectively committed hundreds of volunteer hours to empower a stronger, safer, and more fire adapted community.
Grown, Gathered, Shared
Grown our fire community to 225 members committed creating a safer neighborhood and fire wise community
Hosted 10 community meetings thanks to the generous space hosted by the new Resiliency Center at Hollydale Community Club
Shared 9 seasonal newsletters packed with project updates, community events, learning and healing resources.
Resourced Ourselves
Awarded 2 grants from Sonoma County to help fund our Shaded Fuel Break and Canyon/Scenic/Terrace Roadside Fuel Reduction projects
Trained firefighters & firelighters on our council representing Sonoma County Fire District, Fire Forward and Good Fire Alliance
Hosted 3 funded chipping events to reduce ground fuel that were 100% funded by donations from Recology and Permit Sonoma
Become a certified Firewise USA® community to access more resources and provide more security with homeowners insurance policies
Developed a research-informed action plan
Created a Wildfire Risk Report from a community survey results and map analysis assessed by Fire Safe Sonoma and WRA Environmental Consultants to create an accurate community profile
Participated in an Environmental and Cultural Survey conducted by Ag + Open Space to inform ecologically and socially responsible vegetation management
Collaborated with fire agencies and government stakeholders to ensure our community plan is aligned with our local coalition of frontline fire workers
We have a plan
Intended to be a living document that evolves along with the changing climate and community needs,
our collaborative plan is informed by copious research, data, and community dialogue.
Our Priorities
Our Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP) is a bottoms up strategy to guide wildfire mitigation from the community level. This plan takes a comprehensive approach to fire safety that considers the health and safety of the community through a current and historical lens.
Our research and plan is informed by the perspective of frontline fire fighters, homeowners, nature lovers, land stewards, researchers and community organizers. Through this living document we intend to develop a stronger social safety net with proactive planning, collective understanding, and collaborative readiness as individuals and as a whole.
Evacuation
Projects include roadside vegetation removal, improved address signage, emergency communication networks, and general education about early notifications and evacuations, evacuating with pets, and projects to aid those needing assistance evacuating.
Defensible Space
Projects include roadside fuel reduction, community fuel breaks, information about power lines, and defensible space resources for low-income and at-risk populations, as well as funding incentives.
Structural Hardening
Projects related to structural hardening include structural hardening and retrofit resources for low-income and at-risk populations as well as funding incentives.
Education & Outreach
Our outreach and education projects focus on wildfire preparedness and evacuations, information about defensible space and resilient landscaping, information about home improvements that reduce ignitability.
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Fire Safe Council HCT is located on the unceded land of the Southern Pomo people now represented by the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria. We acknowledge the impacts of colonization, displacement, genocide, and erasure that Indigenous people have experienced and continue to experience to this day. We intend for our work to be a continuation of a respectful cultural relationship with fire and each other that has been a tradition on the lands in which our community resides. May our collective awareness, education, and advocacy honor the original and future stewards, caretakers, and inhabitants of this land.
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© 2023 Fire Safe Council HCT
