LOCAL FIREWISE GROUPS

 

Berkeley Firewise.  A platform for Firewise leaders.  https://www.berkeleyfirewise.org 

 

Berkeley Firewise Alliance.  An informal alliance of hillside Firewise groups dedicated to helping interested residents form their own neighborhood groups.  https://www.berkeleyfirewisealliance.org

 

 

CITY OF BERKELEY/BERKELEY FIRE DEPARTMENT

 

Firesafe Berkeley.  https://www.berkeleyfiresafe.org  This is a Berkeley Fire Department effort to protect the city from catastrophic wildfires.  Firesafe Berkeley encourages firefighters and residents to work together to create firesafe communities.  It provides an array of programs, resources, and services.  Chipper program.  Inspection Program.  Information on home hardening and creating defensible spaces.  And more.  This is a good place to start learning about what your community is doing.

 

City of Berkeley Preparing for Wildfire.  https://berkeleyca.gov/safety-health/fire/preparing-property-wildfire  The city also maintains a website to help the community prepare for wildfire and evacuations.  

 

Community Emergency Response Team CERT.  https://berkeleyca.gov/safety-health/disaster-preparedness/community-emergency-response-team-cert   The CERT program provides education in disaster preparedness, offering courses throughout the year. 

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NONPROFIT PROGRAMS

 

Berkeley Firesafe Council (BFSC).  https://www.berkeleyfiresafecouncil.org/home

The BFSC is a nonprofit 501c3 organization, whose goal is to prevent catastrophic urban fires.  Its efforts have focused on fuel reduction, that is, removing and/or cleaning up the understory of all the eucalyptus groves in Berkeley.  BFSC is a member of the California Firesafe Councils.  It has a record of supporting the work of neighborhood Firewise groups.

 

 

PROGRAMS, STUDIES, PLANS IN PROGRESS

 

EMBER plan.  The Berkeley Fire Department’s “Effective Measures for Berkeley’s Ember Resilience” plan (EMBER) creates a new ember-resistant buffer zone in the wildland urban interface (WUI) area east of Grizzly Peak to stand between the East Bay Regional Park District areas and the rest of Berkeley.  The program would enforce strict defensible space requirements for residences and basic home hardening elements within this zone with the aim of preventing “structure to structure” conflagrations that would overwhelm firefighting resources. 

 

Berkeley Disaster Evacuation Plan. https://www.berkeleyside.org/2023/08/24/berkeley-fire-disaster-evacuations

 

Grizzly Peak Vegetation Management Plan. https://www.berkeleyfiresafe.org/grizzly-peak#:~:text=We%20are%20making%20Grizzly%20Peak%20safer%20from%20wildfires.&text=In%202025%2C%20we%20are%20focusing,break%20between%20the%20remaining%20vegetation.

 

This is a Berkeley Fire Department project to remediate vegetation throughout Grizzly Peak to protect more than 29,000 structures in the city and to clear evacuation routes in the event of wildfire.

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GREAT RESOURCES FROM THE LOCAL FIRESAFE COUNCILS:
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