To inform, empower and mobilize county residents to survive and thrive in a wildfire-prone environment.
FIRE FUELS REDUCTION: MCFSC manages grant-funded projects and programs to reduce fuel loads and improve wildfire mitigation in Mendocino County. Using both its own crew and subcontractors, MCFSC provided free defensible-space clearing at the homes of 143 income-qualified seniors and/or disabled residents, supplied 85 days of free chipping services for neighborhood-level defensible-space improvement (serving roughly 700 residences), and conducted 79 free home assessments for wildfire-preparedness. MCFSC's fuel-reduction projects created safer ingress/egress routes and shaded fuel breaks that will slow fires and provide safe workspaces for responders, totaling 410 acres. MCFSC's crew partnered with Sherwood Firewise Communities to clear additional acres in Brooktrails. MCFSC also collaborated with numerous local groups to sponsor or apply for other successful fuel reduction grants such as PG&E funded vegetation management grants. Thanks to a grant from the State Coastal Conservancy, MCFSC added a track mower to its fleet that will improve its ability to deliver community chipping services and work projects in future years.
EDUCATION and OUTREACH: MCFSC conducted outreach and education in support of wildfire preparedness and mitigation through convening and/or attending numerous community meetings, including 113 inter-agency coordination meetings, 56 local neighborhood Fire Safe Council meetings and 37 community events. MCFSC participated in radio interviews, issued print articles, and maintained a resource-rich website, blog and monthly newsletter. There are now over 1,677 subscribers to the newsletter, whose email version was opened 9,135 times this year. Our website has 17,396 users, and this year we recorded 76,645 Facebook hits, and 2,431 views of how-to videos on home-hardening and defensible-space clearing on the MCFSC YouTube channel. MCFSC provided $135,000 of micro-grants to local fire departments and Neighborhood Fire Safe Councils for small but key strategic local preparedness projects. MCFSC continued to partner with other agencies to plan and strategize for wildfire mitigation and preparedness projects. MCFSC hosts regular leadership meetings for its affiliated Neighborhood Fire Safe Councils, which grew last year to 81 countywide. MCFSC encouraged the Neighborhood Fire Safe Councils to obtain Firewise status, increasing the number of Firewise communities in the County from 4 to 14. MCFSC expanded its school outreach and education program in conjunction with the University of California Hopland Research and Extension Center to provide fire science and wildfire preparedness education to 5th grade through middle school ages. 711 students from 16 different schools participated in the program. MCFSC launched a new blog/podcast series with an initial 16 episodes and published new brochures, including two on wildfire smoke management. MCFSC also created and distributed 263 reflective address-number signs.