PG&E and California Fire Foundation Seeking Applications for Wildfire Safety and Preparedness Grants

More than $1 million in grants, public education, and outreach funded in 2022; Applications Accepted Through June 30

Today (May 30), Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) and the California Fire Foundation (CFF) announced grant opportunities for California-based fire departments and community-based organizations focused on wildfire safety and preparedness. The grant program continues a successful partnership between PG&E and CFF. Applications must be submitted by 11:59 p.m. on June 30, 2023, through the CFF website. Award notification will begin July 31, 2023.

PG&E and The PG&E Corporation Foundation (PG&E Foundation) are providing a total of $1.4 million to CFF’s Wildfire Safety and Preparedness Program (WSPP). Joining forces for the sixth consecutive 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 last year awarded 66 local fire departments and community groups $730,000 in funding.

Since 2018, CFF, which administers and manages the WSPP, has awarded 265 grants to fire departments and community organizations 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. 

“While the unprecedented storms of this past winter helped lift the majority of California out of the decades-long drought, the unfortunate flip side is the increased potential for a later but more robust wildfire season,” said Rick Martinez, Executive Director of the California Fire Foundation. “The Wildfire Safety and Preparedness Program is a partnership with PG&E that was created to address the increasing wildfire risk. Our collaboration over the last six years has played an important role in helping local communities mitigate their wildfire risks and enhance the public’s safety.” 

“PG&E and the California Fire Foundation share the same goal of ensuring that our hometowns are doing everything possible to prevent wildfires from starting. Local fire departments, agencies and community groups play such a key role in prioritizing and executing the projects that protect communities and in raising awareness about wildfire safety. We’re grateful for our ongoing partnership with the CFF as it provides real-time benefits such as defensible space and fuel-reduction programs as well as crucial awareness to customers in underserved communities,” said Mark Quinlan, PG&E’s Senior Vice President of Wildfire & Emergency Operations.

How the grants help communities 

From 2018 to the present, PG&E and the PG&E Foundation have provided $7.4 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 multi-lingual brochures targeting      under-resourced communities in English, Spanish, Chinese, Hmong, and Vietnamese
• Partnerships with community groups in high fire-risk areas to distribute fire-safety information

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.

The California Fire Foundation, a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization, aids firefighters, their families, and the communities they protect. 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 forms to assist the public in staying safe.