More than $1
million in grants, public education, and outreach funded in
2023; Applications Accepted May 30 through
June 30
SACRAMENTO, Calif., May 28, 2024
/PRNewswire/ -- Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) and the
California Fire Foundation (CFF)
are accepting grant applications this week from California-based fire departments and
community-based organizations focused on wildfire safety and
preparedness. The grant program continues a seven-year successful
partnership between PG&E and CFF. Applications will be accepted
beginning May 30 and must be
submitted by 11:59 p.m. on
June 30, 2024, through the CFF
website. Award notification will begin July
31, 2024.
PG&E and The PG&E Corporation Foundation (PG&E
Foundation) are providing a total of $1.4
million to CFF's Wildfire Safety and Preparedness Program
(WSPP). The WSPP continues to raise public awareness about wildfire
safety and deliver resources to underserved communities in high
fire-risk areas. It includes a competitive grant program that last
year awarded 48 local fire departments and community groups
$730,000 in funding.
Funding in 2023 supported:
- Purchasing approximately 2,800 pieces of personal protection
equipment (PPE) including helmets, boots, gloves, goggles and fire
shelters
- Removing over 176 acres of hazardous tree and brush
- Chipping and hauling of 380,500 pounds of tree limbs, branches
and other combustibles
- Conducting 25 prescribed fires or pile burns for forest
management
Since 2018, CFF, which administers and manages the WSPP, has
awarded 313 grants to fire departments and community organizations
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 weather conditions
remain unpredictable and residents must be prepared in the event of
wildfire and disasters. It has only been three years since the
largest and most destructive wildfires raged across California and conditions can quickly change
again with new growth in vegetation and fuel due to recent storms,"
said Rick Martinez, Executive Director of the California Fire Foundation. "The Wildfire
Safety and Preparedness Program is a partnership with PG&E that
was created to give residents the best chances at staying prepared
to keep their families safe."
"Local fire departments, agencies and community groups play a
vital role in prioritizing and executing the projects that help
protect our friends, neighbors and communities — critical to
raising awareness about wildfire safety. We're grateful for our
ongoing partnership with CFF and our shared goal to ensure that our
hometowns are doing everything possible to prevent wildfires from
starting. Thanks to CFF for providing much-needed benefits through
the Wildfire Safety and Preparedness Program such as defensible
space and fuel-reduction programs as well as fire safety outreach
campaigns to customers in underserved communities," said
Mark Quinlan, PG&E's Senior Vice
President of Wildfire, Emergency & Operations.
How the Grants Help Communities
From 2018 to the present, PG&E and the PG&E Foundation
have provided $8.8 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
- Partnerships with community groups in high fire-risk areas to
distribute fire-safety information
- Fire safety outreach campaigns, including 12,000 multi-lingual
brochures targeting under-resourced communities in English,
Spanish, Chinese, Hmong, and Vietnamese
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 California Fire Foundation,
a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization, aids firefighters, their
families, and the communities they protect. 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 forms 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 The PG&E Corporation Foundation
The
PG&E Corporation Foundation is an independent 501(c)(3)
nonprofit organization, separate from PG&E and sponsored by
PG&E Corporation.
About California Fire
Foundation
The California Fire Foundation, a
nonprofit 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
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SOURCE Pacific Gas and Electric Company