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SANTA CLARA COUNTY FIRESAFE COUNCIL AWARDED $222,000 STATE FIRE CAPACITY GRANT FOR WILDFIRE RESILIENCE PROGRAMS ALONG LOS TRANCOS ROAD IN SANTA CLARA AND SAN MATEO COUNTIES
Collaboration with FIRE SAFE San Mateo County covers 6.1 miles of evacuation route hardening, Home Ignition Zone (HIZ) Inspections and establishing new Firewise communities.
December 8, 2025, Saratoga, CA—Santa Clara County FireSafe Council (SCCFSC) and FIRE SAFE San Mateo County (FSSMC) announced today that Santa Clara County FireSafe Council has been awarded a 2025 State Fire Capacity grant in the amount of $220,000 to support collaborative wildfire resilience projects along a stretch of Los Trancos Road that transverses both Santa Clara and San Mateo counties. The project is designed to enhance fire resiliency in the corridor by reducing vegetation and improving the functionality of Los Trancos Road during an evacuation. In addition, this project will reduce the risk of a roadside fire escaping into the wildland, as well as strengthen both Santa Clara County’s and San Mateo County’s developing evacuation route system. Furthermore, the project provides opportunities to protect the Los Trancos Creek Watershed from future intense wildfires by reducing competition in the understory and treating hazardous trees, where feasible, that will create a healthier, more resilient forest, and natural habitat.
SCCFSC and FSSMC have collaborated to plan the Los Trancos Escape Route Project. The sections along Los Trancos that fall in Palo Alto have been planned by SCCFSC in coordination with Palo Alto’s Foothills Fire Management Team. The fuels reduction prescription throughout Portola Valley was developed by senior project manager Jim Young from SCCFSC and SMFSC Director, Denise Enea. The evacuation route project will be a roadside buffer which increases the safety area for traveling along the road in the event of a wildfire evacuation. This work will also reduce the rate of spread of any roadside ignition, a key component to achieve successful evacuation using this roadway, and to enable fire service agency resources to conduct suppression efforts. Amanda Brenner Canon, Program Director and County Wildfire Coordinator, will manage the project for Santa Clara County FireSafe Council.
Specific outcomes of the Project will be to:
- Complete 1 evacuation route project (Los Trancos Evacuation Route Project).
- Conduct at least 10 HIZ assessments.
- Onboard at least 1 new Firewise community (while supporting existing Firewise communities).
- Provide at least 3 chipping events.
The project would start at the intersection of Los Trancos and Alpine Road in Portola Valley and proceed up Los Trancos until Los Trancos Road turns to Vista Verde/Ramona Road, consisting of 6.1 miles of fuel reduction on either side of the project roadways. Hand crews and tree contractors will be utilized to remove hazardous fuels along the roadway. In some sections of the road, mechanical mastication and mowing contractors will be utilized. The neighborhood chipper program events will include residents within the community of Los Trancos, Vista Verde, Blue Oaks, and on Palo Alto residential streets along the area of the project scope.
According to Seth Schalet, CEO of the Santa Clara FireSafe Council, “Our regional Fire Safe Councils have a robust history of collaboration on numerous wildfire resilience initiatives. It’s often said that wildfire does not respect boundaries, and we share areas of CAL FIRE designed High and Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zones (FHSZs). The Letters of Support we received from Congressional District 16, Santa Clara County Board of Supervisor District 5, Woodside Fire Protection District (WFPD) and the City of Palo Alto Fire Department (PAFD), among other partners, were instrumental in helping to make the case for the project’s importance to regional wildfire resiliency. We are most grateful to those that helped contribute to securing this award.”
“Fire Safe San Mateo County is so excited to partner once again with Santa Clara County FireSafe Council on a hazardous fuels reduction and evacuation route improvement project”, stated Denise Enea, Executive Director, FIRE SAFE San Mateo County. “Community wildfire resiliency projects of this scale, in WUI communities, require collaboration as well as expertise when working with State grant funding. Combing our skills and personnel will ensure a seamless operational process and dual County collaboration.”
Funding Statement:
On July 1st, 2025, the California Fire Safe Council (CFSC) announced the availability of $702,474 in grant funds to support hazardous fuels reduction, community wildfire prevention planning, and education and mitigation activities across California through the 2025 State Fire Capacity (SFC) Grant Program. Funding for the 2025 State Fire Capacity Grant Program is provided to the California Fire Safe Council (CFSC) from the Cooperative Fire Program of the U.S. Forest Service (USFS), Department of Agriculture, Pacific Southwest Region.
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