Wildfire Resilient Communities
Now Offering No-Cost Comprehensive Home Hardening & Defensible Space Assessments
Did you receive a letter or door hanger inviting you to sign up for a no-cost comprehensive wildfire risk reduction assessment from SoCo Adapts?
Complete this sign-up form to request an appointment with our wildfire mitigation specialists at no cost to you. Now providing assessments in Larkfield-Wikiup and Lower Russian River areas.
Wildfire Resilient Communities project (WRC)
The Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) program exists to move communities from risk to action—reducing wildfire impacts before they happen. By investing in defensible space, home hardening, and large-scale vegetation management, WRC helps communities lower risk, protect infrastructure, and prevent catastrophic loss. Grant activities include building community partnerships, evaluating structural vulnerabilities and defensible space, identifying sites for large-scale vegetation management, and offering educational and support to help residents take action. The WRC project provides no cost wildfire risk reduction assessments in pre-identified project areas in Sonoma County.
Project Areas
The grant focuses on two main areas identified during the grant application process. Those areas were selected based on various factors that will guide the assessments. While the project work concentrates on specific areas, the goal is to apply lessons learned and successful strategies more broadly over time, throughout Sonoma County.
If you are in one of our project areas and would like a no-cost assessment, please sign up using the WRC assessment and update sign-up.
BRIC Grant Update | 2026
Last year, FEMA indicated via press release that the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) program will be discontinued. The State of California has informed the County that phase 2 of the BRIC implementation funding will not be awarded. Additionally, the Wildfire Adapted and Hazardous Fuels Reduction projects have experienced significant delays in awarding and releasing funding. Given this uncertain environment, Permit Sonoma is discontinuing 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.
Why Participate?
The effort to make Sonoma County more wildfire resilient includes a range of activities from the house outward to the landscape inward (often called “house-out, landscape-in”). Participating in the Wildfire Resilient Communities project will help you understand and prioritize actions that protect your home and your community. This work will reap benefits that can be seen at both small and large scales, including:
- Protecting homes with structure hardening — Increase your home’s ability to withstand embers, heat, and flame created by wildfire.
- Creating defensible space -Sstarting within five feet of the home and moving out to 100 feet or the property line. Keep your landscape lean, clean, and green.
- Getting ahead of new regulations – Beginning in early 2026, the California Building Code will require a non-combustible “Zone 0” (typically five feet) around homes in high fire hazard severity zones. Our assessments may help you meet this standard.
- Building community resilience — Reducing risk from wildfire is a shared responsibility. Your participation and work to protect your home may help your whole community reduce risk and encourage neighbors to do the same.
When neighbors act together—from the house out, to the landscape in—we raise the bar on wildfire resilience for everyone in Sonoma County.
Timeline
We’re currently offering no-cost Structure Hardening and Defensible Space assessments in designated areas. This assessment is for educational purposes only.
- April – August 2026: SoCo Adapt's Fire Prevention specialists conduct no-cost curbside and full wildfire risk reduction assessments in designated areas.
- September 30, 2026: End of federally funded wildfire mitigation activities, including no-cost wildfire assessments and community engagement.
Next Steps
If you know you are in one of our Wildfire Resilient Communities project areas and would like a no-cost assessment, please sign up using the WRC assessment and update sign-up.
Or learn more about what you can do to reduce risk and prepare for wildfires, check out the 2023 Sonoma County Community Wildfire Preparedness Plan and other resources on the County of Sonoma, Fire Prevention resource page.
Project Contact
For questions about the Wildfire Resilient Communities grant (BRIC), please contact Grant Program Manager Robert Aguero.
Partners
ABOUT BRIC
The Sonoma County Fire Prevention Division and Natural Resource Management Division received FEMA’s Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) grant to fund the Wildfire Resilient Communities project. This effort builds on existing wildfire mitigation work developed through the Sonoma County Wildfire Adapted Project and the Hazardous Fuels Reduction Project and expands the County’s ability to reduce wildfire risk in both developed and natural environments. We are currently offering educational wildfire risk reduction assessments in Larkfield-Wikiup and Lower Russian River (Guerneville).
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