Fire safe councils
Fire safe councils are grassroots community-based organizations in California that share the objective of making communities less vulnerable to catastrophic wildfire.
Some are organized as non-profit and/or tax-exempt corporations; others operate under a memorandum of understanding with a county, city, and/or local fire protection district; some have no formal structure at all.
While some fire safe councils have paid staff, such as an Executive Director, and may have grant funding for fuel reduction projects, all FSCs rely heavily on volunteers for much of their work.
[2] This program created materials, including a video, a brochure, and other items, to educate homeowners about implementing fire safe practices inside and outside the home.
[3] The Oakland firestorm of 1991 provided a new incentive to increase wildfire prevention education and activities, and CDF formed the Fire Safe Advisory Council, AKA the Fire Safe Council, which included insurance industry representatives, wildland firefighting agencies (such as the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM)), private industry, and the public.
The Fire Safe Council of Nevada County, Inc. began its official formation in January 1998, under the leadership of CDF Battalion Chief Kate Dargan.
Chief Dargan is also a founding member at The California Fire Safe Council, and in October of 2021, she was appointed Assistant Director for Disaster Preparedness and Response to the White House Climate and Environment Team.
Marketing support was provided under a contract with the public relations firm Manning Selvage & Lee, which had an office on K Street in Sacramento at the time.
Expansion of the program accelerated after the Fire Safe Council of Nevada County (FSCNC) received a Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) grant in 1998.
One of the conditions of the WUI grant was that the Executive Director of the FSCNC takes an active role in assisting other communities to form Fire Safe Councils and aids in their success.
Prior to the incorporation of the CFSCI, the California Fire Safe Council was the primary means of networking for local FSCs.
After incorporation, the CFSCI continued to host the monthly meetings for local FSCs until November 2006, when budget constraints would no longer allow for the expense.
Many fire safe councils operate a program that assists people with special needs, such as seniors, low-income, and disabled persons, to create and maintain the defensible space around their homes.
The purpose of these programs is to educate homeowners about creating adequate defensible space and advice for home hardening modifications to reduce the risk of structure loss in a wildfire.
Many fire safe councils, as well as individual contributors, have received recognition of their efforts to improve the ability for California's communities to survive a wildfire.
However, with the incorporation of the California Fire Safe Council, Inc. (CFSCI) in mid-2002, the old inclusive CFSC disappeared and was replaced by a non-membership 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation.
Local fire safe councils are no longer members and have minimal impact on, or knowledge of, decisions made by the CFSCI.
The major difference between the two methods is that to be certified by Firewise USA, the entire community must be involved, including financially, whereas fire safe councils, especially those that are 501(c)(3) organizations, can operate with a much smaller level of individual participation.
