Fire Safe Council

Wildfire is an increasing threat in the Sacramento region, particularly along the American River Parkway. In 2021, more than 200 fires burned over 15% of the Parkway. In response, the American River Parkway Foundation founded the American River Parkway Fire Safe Council (Fire Safe Council) in July 2021. The Fire Safe Council is recognized by the California Fire Safe Council, developed to help lead education on the danger of wildfires and help communities protect themselves from wildfires.

Draft Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP)

The American River Parkway Foundation is excited to present the Draft CWPP for the American River Parkway. Click here to see the draft plan. It will be available until May 31, 2024, and all comments should be directed to the following email: dpoggetto@arpf.org.

The Draft divides the Parkway into the same sections as the Natural Resources Management Plan. Within each section, a description of risk is detailed as well as potential projects, the priority level of the project, and the project type. After the 30-day review period, a section will be added as to the agency responsible for the project task.

 

What does the American River Parkway Fire Safe Council Do?

The mission of the Fire Safe Council is to mitigate fire danger on the Parkway and protect natural habitat, infrastructure that resides on the Parkway and surrounding homes and businesses from fire.

The Fire Safe Council’s objective is to update and implement the Fire Management Plan developed by internationally renown wildfire expert Carol Rice and commissioned by Sacramento County Regional Parks in 2015.

The founding goals of the Fire Safe Council are:

• Develop wildfire risk reduction plans for each section of the Parkway
• Protect the infrastructure that exists on the Parkway
• Address the safety concerns of Parkway users
• Develop a prescribed wildland fire hazard reduction plan
• Identify other high fire risk issues
• Engage the public in support of fire management activities

Fire Safe Council Members

Numerous Sacramento area agencies, including fire protection services, utilities, water, wastewater, and flood protection agencies, conservation organizations, and other infrastructure owners, operators and area nonprofits, promptly stepped forward to work with the Parkway Foundation to develop the Fire Safe Council, including:

• American River Flood Control District
• American River Natural History Association
• California American Water
• California Exposition and State Fair (Cal Expo)
• California State University, Sacramento (CSUS)
• Carmichael Water District
• County of Sacramento
• Golden State Water Company
• Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E)
• Sacramento Area Sewer District (SASD)
• Sacramento City Fire Department
• Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District
• Sacramento Metropolitan Utility District (SMUD)
• Sacramento Suburban Water District
• Sacramento Valley Conservancy
• Sacramento Water Forum
• Save the American River Association (SARA)
• Soil Born Farms Urban Agriculture & Education Project
• Union Pacific Railroad
• Western Area Power Administration (WAPA)

What is a Fire Safe Council?

A fire safe council is a coalition of public and private sector organizations that share a common, vested interest in wildfire prevention and loss mitigation. Councils are dedicated to saving lives and reducing fire losses by making their communities fire safe.

The California Fire Safe Council was first developed in 1993 as a project of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection to bring together community leaders, government agencies, and corporations to address the dangers of wildfires and how they could be prevented.

Fire safe councils are established to plan and manage community wildfire preparedness projects and helps them acquire grant funding to accomplish their objectives.