From Seth Schalet, Santa Clara County FireSafe Council CEO

Well, it sure has been a busy few months for the team at the Santa Clara County FireSafe Council (SCCFSC). Tara and Amanda have been driving our website strategy and working on creating a series of Newsletters: one for the CWPP, one for our Forest Health Grant (Los Gatos Creek Watershed Collaborative) and one—this one—our general SCCFSC Newsletter. Jim, Stephen, Irene, Harmon, and Nestor have been focused on several fuels reduction projects, the community chipping program, leading our contracts (Los Altos Hills County Fire District, City of Saratoga, and Saratoga Fire District) to support hazardous fuels reduction, chipping services, Home Ignition Zone (HIZ) home assessments, education, and more. As a project manager, Stephen leads our $7,500,000 CAL FIRE Forest Health Grant and we just put an application in for a second round of funding for just over $6,000,000 to support the project's second phase. We also just submitted a new application for a CAL FIRE Wildfire Prevention Grant to the tune of $1,100,000. Late last year we won the $175,000 County Coordinator grant and myself, Karol and Amanda have been working to formally roll-out this project to the public. If that isn’t enough, we are making significant progress leading the update of the Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP) with our partners at CAL FIRE, the county fire departments, county OEM, other agencies, and our contractor, SWCA. We have a significant milestone coming up with our CWPP Advisory Team meetings on April 4^th and 5^th to make key decisions and moving this closer to public roll-out.

I want to thank several elected officials. Supervisor Joe Simitian and his staff for their Letter of Support on our CAL FIRE Wildfire Prevention Grant application and Congresswomen Anna Eshoo and her staff for their Letter of Support for our CAL FIRE Wildfire Prevention Grant application.

Thank you.

The CWPP will be hosting its next Advisory Board Team meetings —in person— on April 4^th and April 5^th for two full days working on the various issues and decisions that need to be resolved and agreed upon as we move towards finalizing this update. Visit Webpage

Recent rains and wind have again brought forest treatment work to a near standstill. However, we are busily working on plans for SJW land. The final sign off from Santa Clara County was received and we are anticipating a start of operations in April. Hopefully, this will be adequate time for the ground to become less saturated. Weather permitting, we will be working on MidPen lands and SJW simultaneously in April. 

There is a lot of coordination and behind the scenes work done by our staff here at SCCSFC, our partners, SJW and MROSD and by our consultants and contractors to plan and coordinate this large scale project. The wet winter has provided challenges, but we have an excellent team of professionals that is flexible and experienced to handle it. Visit Webpage

SCCFSC was awarded the CAL FIRE County Coordinator Grant that will lead county-wide collaboration and coordination among all wildfire mitigation groups. The purpose of the County Coordinator Grant is to educate, encourage, and develop county-wide collaboration and coordination among Santa Clara County’s various wildfire mitigation groups. Learn more

What is a Home Ignition Zone (HIZ) assessment?

A trained representative from the FireSafe Council will come to your home, walk your property, and offer suggestions to improve your home's capacity for surviving a wildfire. You'll receive a comprehensive report with personal recommendations to amplify the resiliency of your landscape and home, examining vegetation, construction standards, and commonly overlooked fire hazards. This program aims to facilitate an open discussion between landowners and our FireSafe personnel; this program does not aim to evaluate or grade land owners on any scale. Learn More

Wildfire Community Preparedness Day is a national campaign that encourages people and organizations everywhere to come together on a single day to take action to raise awareness and reduce wildfire risks.

Prep Day is focused on what residents can do on and around their home to help protect against the threat of wildfires. Learn more