PG&E and California Fire Foundation Join Forces to Bolster Wildfire Safety and Preparedness

By: Pacific Gas and Electric Company via Business Wire

May 06, 2022 at 08:00 AM EDT

Applications Being Accepted for Fire Safety, Public Education Grants

During California’s Wildfire Preparedness Week May 1-7, 2022, Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) and the California Fire Foundation (CFF) are announcing their continued partnership in support of wildfire safety and preparedness.

PG&E and The PG&E Corporation Foundation (Foundation) are providing, in the aggregate, $1.4 million to CFF’s Wildfire Safety and Preparedness Program (WSPP). Now in its fifth year, the program’s objective is to raise public awareness about wildfire safety and deliver resources to underserved communities in high fire-risk areas. It includes a grant program that awarded 54 local fire departments, fire agencies and community groups $670,000 in funding last year.

Fire departments and community-based organizations in California now can submit applications for this year’s wildfire safety and awareness grants. Applications must be submitted by 11:45 p.m. on June 17, 2022 at the CFF website. Award notification will begin mid-July, 2022.

Since 2018, the CFF, which administers and manages the WSPP, has awarded 199 grants to fire departments and fire agencies statewide, focusing its efforts in Northern and Central California. Funding targets communities identified as having extreme or elevated fire risk as identified by the California Public Utilities Commission.

“California’s drought, coupled with drier, hotter conditions are putting communities at risk. The Wildfire Safety and Preparedness Program is a partnership with PG&E that was created to address the increasing wildfire risk,” said Rick Martinez, Executive Director of CFF. “Our partnership over the last five years, in which California has seen an increase in fire activity, has played an important role in helping local communities become more fire-safe. ”

“At PG&E we’ve taken a stand that catastrophic wildfires shall stop. But we know we can’t do it alone. It will take all of us working together to mitigate the wildfire risk, and help our hometowns be better prepared and be more resilient to this growing threat,” said Sumeet Singh, PG&E Executive Vice President, Chief Risk Officer and Interim Chief Safety Officer.

How the Grants Help Communities

Over the past five years, PG&E has provided $6 million in total support for fire safety awareness through the WSPP. The charitable contribution is shareholder-funded, not paid for by PG&E customers.

Since 2018, WSPP has funded:

Specialized fire equipment and personal protective equipment
Defensible space and vegetation management efforts
Fuel/hazard reduction programs
Fire prevention and emergency preparedness education including senior citizen wildfire preparedness programs
Fire safety outreach campaigns including 12,000 brochures targeting underserved communities in English, Spanish, Chinese, Hmong and Vietnamese
Partnerships with community groups in high fire-risk areas to distribute fire-safety information

The WSPP develops and distributes in-language fire-safety messaging targeting Spanish, Chinese, Hmong, and Vietnamese communities. These efforts include a comprehensive media campaign consisting of outdoor billboards and in-language television, radio, and digital ads.

The CFF, a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization, aids firefighters, their families and the communities they protect. The CFF’s Firefighters on Your Side program, also supported by PG&E, provides multi-lingual, culturally relevant fire safety messaging in both digital and print form, to assist the public in staying safe.

About PG&E

Pacific Gas and Electric Company, a subsidiary of PG&E Corporation (NYSE: PCG), is a combined natural gas and electric utility serving more than 16 million people across 70,000 square miles in Northern and Central California. For more information, visit pge.com and pge.com/news.

About California Fire Foundation

The California Fire Foundation, a non-profit 501 (c)(3) organization, provides emotional and financial assistance to families of fallen firefighters, firefighters and the communities they protect. Formed in 1987 by California Professional Firefighters, the California Fire Foundation’s mandate includes an array of survivor and victim assistance projects and community initiatives. cafirefoundation.org