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SoCo Adapts: Wildfire Resiliency Grants

PROJECT UPDATE: In April 2025, FEMA indicated via press release that the BRIC program will be discontinued. The State of California has informed the County that BRIC implementation funding will not be awarded. Additionally, the Wildfire Adapted and Hazardous Fuels Reduction projects have also experienced significant delays in awarding and releasing implementation funding. Given this uncertain environment, Permit Sonoma is pausing grant activities for federally funded wildfire mitigation activities after September 30, 2026. We continue to monitor changes closely, complete remaining grant obligations, and leverage existing efforts and partnerships where possible.

SoCo Adapts is a federal and state-funded program dedicated to helping property owners become more resilient to wildfires in Sonoma County, we offer community education and free wildfire risk assessments focused on:

Home Hardening and Defensible Space
Large-scale Vegetation Management

Awarded Grants

Wildfire Resilient Communities (also known as "BRIC")

Permit Sonoma was awarded FEMA's Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) grant program in December 2020 to fund the Wildfire Resilient Communities (WRC) project, which has also been referred to as the BRIC Project. The Wildfire Resilient Communities project will complement and scale up the projects, capabilities, and systems currently being developed by Permit Sonoma staff through the Wildfire Adapted Sonoma County program and the Hazardous Fuels Reduction Project. This project will simultaneously implement mitigation projects in built and natural environments across three specific project areas to reduce the risk and potential impact of devastating wildfires.

Hazardous Fuels Reduction

The goal of the Sonoma County Hazardous Fuels Reduction Project (HFR) is to protect the lives and property of Sonoma County residents while improving forest health and wildfire resilience in the county’s wildland areas by removing hazardous fuels on private parcels and road systems in the county.

Wildfire Adapted Sonoma County

The Wildfire Adapted Project (WA 1 and WA 2) helps residents within specified high-risk project areas understand how to create defensible space and harden homes and structures against wildfire. Each parcel in the project areas will receive a vegetation management assessment and can opt in to receive a structure hardening assessment.