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Permit Sonoma staff applied to FEMA's Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) grant program in December 2020 to fund the Wildfire Resilient Sonoma County project, also known as the BRIC project. The Wildfire Resilient Sonoma County, the BRIC project, will complement and scale up the projects, capabilities, and systems currently being developed by Permit Sonoma staff through the Sonoma County Wildfire Adapted program and the Hazardous Fuels Reduction Project. This project will simultaneously implement mitigation projects in built and natural environments to reduce the risk of devastating wildfires.
In June of 2021, President Joe Biden made an announcement during a press conference that the federal government would be "doubling down on FEMA funding" for the overall federal BRIC program. President Biden specifically called out Sonoma County and mentioned providing the County $37 million in funding due to the recent catastrophic wildfires the County experienced, which suggested he was referring to the BRIC project.
What Will the Wildfire Resilient Sonoma County Project Do?
Wildfire Resilient Sonoma County's project application identified three pre-selected project areas and project tasks. The project areas and project tasks cannot be changed, and work can only be funded by this grant if it occurs within the project areas and specifically supports the project tasks.
Project Areas and Tasks
Wildfire Resilient Sonoma County project tasks include Defensible Space Assessments and Structural Hardening Assessments, as well as site identification for wildfire hazardous fuels vegetation management projects. After the assessments are completed, the Wildfire Resilient Sonoma County project will provide cost-share incentives to residents in a similar manner as provided in the Sonoma County Wildfire Adapted program. After the hazardous fuels reduction sites are identified, the Wildfire Resilient Sonoma County project will implement selected vegetation management projects at a landscape-scale in a similar manner as provided in the Hazardous Fuels Reduction Project.
These activities will only take place within the three pre-identified project areas. Wildfire Resilient Sonoma County project areas predominantly do not overlap with the project area footprints of the Wildfire Adapted Sonoma County program in order to provide the assessment and cost-share incentive services to new areas of the County.
Contact Information
For more information about Wildfire Resilient Sonoma County (née the BRIC grant), please contact Misha.Bailey@sonoma-county.org.