Sacramento County Office of Emergency Services serves as a coordination point for all of the Fire Safe Councils in Sacramento County. Our overall approach is to act as the County's California Fire Safe Council Coordinator. Our vision is to have informed, educated, and fire defensible communities that will result in enhanced protection of lives, property, and natural resources through a collaborative approach in a fire prone environment.
Our program provides community assistance, information, and educational programs in an effort to reduce the risks of wildfire danger to life and property in our county through coordination among various wildfire mitigation groups operating within the County, where State Responsibility Area (SRA) lands are located. We exist to accomplish the following goals:
- Build a census of all active wildfire mitigation groups, contact points, collaboration efforts, and projects.
- Analyze gaps in county-wide wildfire resiliency and emergency preparedness and develop recommendations to fulfill these needs.
- Develop mechanisms to improve outreach and coordination efforts, such as group formation, funding plans, governance structures, and state/regional/local planning efforts.
Sacramento County Office of Emergency Services was awarded grants from the State of California Fire Safe Council in March of 2022 and April 2024.
Join the effort and see how you can make a difference in your community.
What is a Fire Safe Council?
Fire safe councils are grassroots community-based organizations in California that share the objective of making communities less vulnerable to catastrophic wildfire. Fire safe councils accomplish this objective through education programs and projects such as shaded fuel breaks or firebreaks to protect area residents against an oncoming wildfire and to provide firefighters with a place to fight the oncoming fire. The first fire safe councils started in the early 1990s, and there are now over 100 around the state.
Local fire safe councils usually include representatives from:
- Fire agencies, including CAL FIRE, the US Forest Service, the Bureau of Land Management, and/or local fire protection districts as appropriate
- Local governments, such as city and/or county
- Businesses, especially insurance
- Other agencies, such as Resource Conservation Districts
- The public
The fire agency and local government representatives may be members of the FSC, or may serve in an advisory capacity, depending on local needs.
All local fire safe councils are independent entities. 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.
Fire safe councils vary in focus. Some are county-wide, while others comprise only the Homeowner's Association in a subdivision, to all sizes in between. There are also several regional associations of fire safe councils.
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.
Sacramento County Fire Safe Councils:
American River Parkway Foundation Fire Safe Council
5700 Arden Way
Carmichael, CA 95608
(916) 486-2773
dpoggetto@arpf.org.
Herald Fire Prevention Council
12746 Ivie Road
Herald, CA 95638
(209) 260-1646
Mission Statement: "To make Herald a Fire Safe Community" priorities, mitigate all causes of elevated fire rating. Educate and engage the community to maintain fire security.
Board Members:
LaCharles James
Jim Cunningham
Mark Owens
Denise Owens
Rancho Murrieta Regional Fire Safe Council
Board Members:
Greg Pryor, President
(916) 719-5711
G.pryor@att.net
Cheryl McElhany, Past Vice-President
Bob Lucas, Secretary
Jerry Spencer, Treasurer
Kelly Hopkins , Sacramento Conservancy
Karen Hoberg, RM Realtor
Betty Ferraro, Emergency Preparedness
Wendy Mazzoni, Insurance Agent
John Merchant, CPAC
Fred Seminara, Murieta Village
Walt White, Sparks FD
Dave Rhodes, RM Trail Stewards
