Building Resilient Infrastucture & Communities
Now Offering No-Cost Comprehensive Home Hardening & Defensible Space Assessments
Did you receive a letter or door hanger inviting you to sign up for a no-cost comprehensive wildfire risk reduction assessment from SoCo Adapts?
Complete this sign-up form to request an appointment with our wildfire mitigation specialists at no cost to you.
Wildfire Resilient Communities Project (WRC)
The WRC project provides no cost wildfire risk assessments in pre-identified project areas in Sonoma County. Phase one activities include building community partnerships, evaluating structual vulnerabilities and defensible space, identifying sites for large-scale vegetation mangement, and offering educational and support to help residents take action.
Project Areas
Initial efforts will focus on three areas identified during the grant application process. Those areas were slected based on various factors that will guide the assessments. While the prosject work concentrates on specific areas, the goal is to apply lessons learned and successful strategies more broadly over time, throughout Sonoma County.
- Larkfield-Wikiup-Mark West
- Penngrove-Rancho Adobe
- Lower Russian River-Guerneville
If you are in one of our project areas and would like to a no cost assessment, please sign up using the WRC assessment and update sign-up.
BRIC Grant Update | 2026
In April 2025, FEMA indicated via press release that the BRIC program will be discontinued. The State of California has informed the County that BRIC implementation funding will not be awarded. Additionally, the Wildfire Adapted and Hazardous Fuels Reduction projects have also experienced significant delays in awarding and releasing implementation funding. Given this uncertain environment, Permit Sonoma is pausing grant activities for federally funded wildfire mitigation activities after September 30, 2026. We continue to monitor changes closely, complete remaining grant obligations, and leverage existing efforts and partnerships where possible.
Why Participate?
The effort to make Sonoma County more wildfire resilient includes a range of activities from the house outward to the landscape inward (often called “house-out, landscape-in”). Participating in the Wildfire Resilient Communities program will help you understand and prioritize actions that protect you, your homes, and your community. Your work will reap benefits that can be seen at both small and large scales, including:
- Protecting homes with structure hardening — Increase your home’s ability to withstand embers, heat, and flame of wildfire.
- Create defensible space starting within five feet of the home and moving out to 100 feet or the property line. Keep your landscape lean, clean, and green. Consider participating in Sonoma County’s free chipper program.
- Get ahead of new regulations – Beginning in early 2026, the California Building Code will require a non-combustible “Zone 0” (typically five feet) around homes in high fire hazard zones. Our assessments will help you meet this standard.
- Meet potential insurance requirements — Insurers often require or reward homes that meet home hardening and defensible-space standards.
- Build Community Resilience — Reducing risk from wildfire is a shared responsibility. Your participation and work to protect your home will help your whole community reduce risk and encourage neighbors to do the same.
When neighbors act together—from the house out to the landscape in—we raise the bar on safety for everyone in Sonoma County.
Timeline
As we continue to seek and secure funding for Phase two implementation, we’re completing Phase one of the Wildfire Resilient Communities Project, which includes no cost Structure Hardening and Defensible Space assessments in designated areas.
- May – August 2026: SoCo Adapt's Fire Prevention specialists begin conducting no cost curbside and full wildfire risk assessments in designated areas.
- September 30, 2026: End of no cost wildfire assessments and community engagement for WRC phase one.
- November 15, 2026: Current end date for BRIC grant, phase one.
Next Steps
If you know you are in one of our Wildfire Resilient project areas and would like a no-cost assessment, please sign up using the WRC assessment and update sign-up.
Or to learn more about what you can do to reduce risk and prepare for wildfires, check out the Community Wildfire Preparedness Plan and other resources on the County of Sonoma, Fire Prevention resource page.
Project Contact
For questions about the Wildfire Resilient Communities grant (aka BRIC), please contact Grant Project Manager Robert Aguero.
Partners
ABOUT BRIC
Permit Sonoma received FEMA’s Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) grant to fund the Wildfire Resilient Communities project. This effort will build on existing wildfire mitigation work developed through the Sonoma County Wildfire Adapted Program and the Hazardous Fuels Reduction Project and expand the County’s ability to address fire risk in both developed and natural landscapes.
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