2018 was California's most destructive wildfire season on record, with 8,500 fires, 2 million acres burned, $20 billion in losses and 100+ deaths. The US Climate Report indicated the reasons for this included the climate and vast amount of fire ready trees, combined with a severe labor shortage. To address the gap, 35% of CA's firefighters are currently incarcerated people in state fire camps. Despite the extensive training and experience, they face barriers to employment in the field once home.
2018 was California's most destructive wildfire season on record, with 8,500 fires, 2 million acres burned, $20 billion in losses and 100+ deaths. The US Climate Report indicated the reasons for this included the climate and vast amount of fire ready trees, combined with a severe labor shortage. To address the gap, 35% of CA's firefighters are currently incarcerated people in state fire camps. Despite the extensive training and experience, they face barriers to employment in the field once home.
FFRP provides fuel reduction projects for the communities threatened by California's increasing Wildfires. We lead a "Wildland Hazard Mitigation Specialist" pre-apprenticeship program in Southern California that provides paid on-the-job training to participants and defensible space / fuels reduction work to those in high wildfire risk areas. This work coaches / supports participants through the process of transitioning to a full-time member of CA's firefighting force.
In five years, FFRP expects to establish itself in 5 California counties (adding one new county in California annually). Through this growth, FFRP will begin operating fuel reduction crews in a Social Enterprise model where the nonprofit participates in the federal, state, and local contracting process to increase its environmental impact and employment support. Wildfire concerns are only growing, and this model provides one of the most innovative solutions to addressing climate concerns.
This project has provided additional documentation in a PDF file (projdoc.pdf).
