Plumas County officials have partnered with federal, state and local agencies to craft a proposal that could help up to 90 homeowners make their houses resilient to wildfire.
The tentative plan, approved March 5 by the Plumas County Board of Supervisors, will leverage several sources of funding to make the county eligible for $2.6 million in Federal Emergency Management Agency funds.
“This is the first home-hardening program in the county to my knowledge. In areas that haven’t seen wildfire loss it would make neighborhoods and communities more resilient,” said Plumas County Planning Director Tracey Ferguson.
The project is a partnership between Plumas County and the Plumas County Fire Safe Council. It is designed to shore up existing homes with ignition-resistant materials, and clear property around buildings to reduce the threat of catastrophic wildfire. The program requires a second funder to match 25% of the federal grant, or $641,853, Ferguson told the supervisors.
That portion of the plan hit a snag in January, when Ferguson learned that California’s budget deficit has created uncertainty about the availability of some of the state funding. Prepare California Match, a state agency funding source, cannot guarantee matching funds as originally planned, she said.
The California Office of Emergency Services, which assists FEMA in administering grant programs, asked the county to come up with a plan for providing the 25% match by March 8.
That urgency launched a strategy session at the supervisors’ March 5 meeting. Ferguson identified three potential sources for the matching funds:
- They could come directly from the county general fund.
- The supervisors could take them from the $7.8 million fund the county received from Pacific Gas and Electric Co. as a settlement for its involvement in the 2021 Dixie Fire.
- Or they could look to local stakeholders to provide the match.
No one seemed interested in tapping county funds as a first choice. Ferguson recommend against using the PG&E fund, since, she said, the supervisors have not held a public conversation about how those funds should be allocated.
Ferguson suggested using a portion of a separate $24 million federal grant already approved to assist residents who lost homes to rebuild. The Community Development Block Grant – Disaster Recovery program is designed to fund construction of new homes for eligible Greenville residents whose homes were destroyed in the Dixie Fire. It could provide $500,000 as a match for the FEMA home-hardening grant, Ferguson said.
That leaves $141,853 to complete the $641,853 match. To fill most of the gap, Ferguson proposed using the Fire Safe Council’s home-hardening work as a $128,000 in-kind donation.
The remaining $13,853 would come from county staff time as an in-kind donation.
“It’s a win-win for Plumas County,” said Supervisor Kevin Goss, whose district includes the area hardest hit by the fire that destroyed the communities of Greenville, Indian Falls, Canyon Dam and Warner Valley. His motion to develop a formal plan for the 25% match passed unanimously.
