The CAL FIRE’s Wildfire Prevention Grants Program provides funding for wildfire prevention projects and activities in and near wildfire-threatened communities that focus on increasing the protection of people, structures, and communities.
Donor Name: California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE)
State: California
County: All Counties
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 07/08/2026
Size of the Grant: $500,000 to $1 million
Grant Duration: Grant Duration Not Mentioned
Details:
Funded activities include Hazardous Fuels Reduction, Wildfire Prevention Planning, and Wildfire Prevention Education with an emphasis on improving public health and safety while reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
California’s Strategic Fire Plan serves as a roadmap for project development. Projects are evaluated based on the overall benefit to reduce the threat of wildfires to people, structures, and communities. CAL FIRE will consider the wildfire hazards and risks to an area, the geographic balance of projects, and whether the project is complementary to other wildfire prevention or forest health activities when awarding grants.
Qualifying Project Types and Activities
The Wildfire Prevention Grants Program funds three types of activities: Hazardous Fuels Reduction, Wildfire Prevention Planning, and Wildfire Prevention Education:
- Hazardous Fuels Reduction
- Vegetation clearance in critical locations to reduce wildfire intensity and rate of spread.
- Creation or maintenance of fuel breaks in strategic locations, as identified in CAL FIRE Unit Fire Plans, a Community Wildfire Protection Plan, or similar strategic planning document.
- Maintenance of existing fuels reduction projects paid for by CAL FIRE or any other funding sources (i.e., other state funds, federal funds, or private funds).
- Removal of ladder fuels to reduce the risk of crown fires.
- Creation of community-level wildfire prevention programs, such as community chipping days, roadside chipping, and green waste bin programs.
- Selective tree removal (thinning) to improve forest health to withstand wildfire.
- Modification of vegetation adjacent to roads to improve public safety for egress of evacuating residents and ingress of responding emergency personnel.
- Reduction of fuel loading around critical infrastructure to maintain continuity of government and other critical services.
- Projects to improve compliance with defensible space requirements as required by Public Resources Code Section 4291 (Projects eligible are low-income, disabled, or elderly households per CA requirements).
- California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Compliance is required for contractors performing Public Resources Code Section 4291.
- Seasonal and temporary prescribed grazing using temporary infrastructure consistent with increasing the protection of people, structures, and communities.
- Removal of dead, dying, diseased, or otherwise hazardous trees.
- Wildfire Prevention Planning
- Wildfire risk or related mapping
- Creation or update of strategic wildfire planning documents, such as:
- Evacuation plans
- Community Wildfire Protection Plans (CWPP)
- Local Hazard Mitigation Plans
- Safety Elements
- Wildfire Prevention or Mitigation Plans
- Wildfire Prevention Education
- Development and implementation of public education and outreach programs. Workshops, meetings, materials creation, and other educational activities with the purpose of increasing knowledge and awareness of information that could be used to reduce the total number of wildfires, acres burned, and structures lost. To educate the public on making homes and communities more wildfire resilient, including defensible space training.
Funding Information
- The recommended funding amount is $950,000 or less.
- Project equipment not to exceed a cumulative total of $750,000.
Eligibility Criteria
- State Agencies
- Native American Tribes
- Joint Powers Authorities (JPAs) if the entities involved are eligible applicants.
- Special districts
- Fire protection districts.
- Community services districts
- Water districts
- Resource conservation districts
- Local agencies, including:
- City, county, or city and county
- Fire Safe Councils with a 501(c)(3) designation.
- Other qualified non-profit organizations with a 501(c)(3) designation.
For more information, visit CAL FIRE.
