Firewise USA encourages neighbors to work together to address their wildfire safety hazards at the community level - the more people taking action, the better off we all are. Learn how your community can start the process and join the growing number of recognized sites. 

The Firewise Communities Program provides a number of proven tools and resources for homeowners and other community residents who work tirelessly to help prepare for and reduce the risk of wildfire damage and loss in their neighborhoods.

This is a community group and community organization. 

How does the Firewise USA® program work?

Organize it

Create a board or committee of volunteers to represent your community, including residents and partners such as local forestry agencies or the fire department. Identify a resident leader who will be the program point of contact. The board or committee defines the boundaries of the site and determines the number of individual single family dwelling units.

Community size: Minimum of 8 dwelling units and a maximum of 2,500.  Multiple Firewise USA sites can be located within a city/town or master-planned community/HOA.

Plan it

The board or committee will collaborate with their local wildfire expert to complete a community wildfire risk assessment. The assessment should be a community-wide view that identifies areas of successful wildfire risk reduction and areas where improvements could be made. Emphasis should be on the general conditions of homes and related home ignition zones.  The assessment is a living document and needs to be updated at a minimum every 5 years. 

• Contact your state liaison to learn more about the requirements and how to get started
• Some states use the Firewise USA template. (PDF)
• Online training - Community Wildfire Risk Assessment Tutorial

The board/committee will use the risk assessment to create a three-year action plan, broken down by year, that identifies and prioritizes actions to reduce ignition risk to homes. These can include communitywide investments along with suggested homeowner actions and education activities that participants will strive to complete annually, or over a period of multiple years. This document is required to be updated at least every three years. As circumstances change (e.g., completing activities, experiencing a fire or a natural disaster, new construction in community, etc.), the action plan may need to be updated more frequently

Do it

Each year, neighbors complete educational and risk reduction actions identified in the plan. These go towards your site's annual reporting efforts.

• Find examples (PDF) of activities that count towards your investment.
• Use our volunteer hourly worksheet (PDF) to collect information from residents in your community

At a minimum, each site is required to annually invest the equivalent of one volunteer hour per dwelling unit in wildfire risk reduction actions. If your site has identified 100 homes within its boundary, than 100 hours of work or the monetary equivalent, based on the independent sector value of volunteer time, need to be completed for that year.

Tell us about it

When the above criteria have been met, the Resident Leader applies for recognition through the Firewise® Portal (portal.firewise.org), describing educational and mitigation work in the site. Each year, sites renew their status by reporting their activity.

Help create a Firewise community in our area! 

Additional Information

More information on creating a firewise home and community can be found below.

• Defensible Space
• California Wildfire Mitigation Program (CWMP)
• Recovery California Wildfire Mitigation Program
• Land Use Planning Program
• Firewise USA NFPA Map
• State Liaison contacts

Crate a Firewise Community Group and let us know so we can work together for a safer community.