The Yolo County Fire Safe Council (YCFSC) provides support for wildfire prevention, wildfire response, and post-fire recovery efforts by implementing priority projects identified in the Yolo County Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP). The RCD is leading the development of the CWPP as part of the CAL FIRE grant program. The planning process began in the fall of 2020 and will be completed over the course of the next two years. As the first step, a CWPP steering committee is meeting to develop a draft wildfire risk assessment that will be available for Fire Safe Council and community input in early fall. Once the wildfire risk assessment is finalized, the RCD will be holding a series of public meetings in the wildfire-prone communities in the greater Winters area, Esparto and Capay Valley. All interested members of the public, including in neighboring counties, will be able to provide input in this process.

To aid in the development of the CWPP, a “hub site” has been created with multiple maps and resources to inform Yolo County residents about the CWPP.  This site is also being used to collect information and opinions to help the YCRCD and the Yolo County Office of Emergency Services create the CWPP. Please help us by looking over this site and providing feedback on the Community Base Map and assets and values at risk from widlfire in your community. There is also a form on this site to solicit your prepared project ideas for the county-wide CWPP.

If you would like more information about this topic or current wildfire-related programs in Yolo County, please contact RCD Program Manager Tanya Meyer at meyer@yolorcd.org. For wildfire emergency response-related inquiries, please contact OES staff member Kurt Johnson at Kurt.Johnson@yolocounty.org

Yolo County Fire Safe Council is offering a Neighborhood Chipper Pilot Program for folks living in the high fire areas of Western Yolo County. The Neighborhood Chipper Pilot Program is a chipping service that helps residents reduce fuels around their properties by chipping debris from defensible space and fuels reduction work around their property.

Defensible space and fuels reduction create a buffer between your property and the grass, trees, shrubs or other wildfire fuels that surround it. Defensible space will help slow or stop the spread of wildfire. Not only essential for eliminating pathways for wildfire to affect a home, defensible space also provides a safe route for evacuation. To learn more about defensible space and fuels reduction, visit www.readyforwildfire.org/defensible-space.

To be visited by the YCFSC Chipper, residents should reduce fuels and create defensible space around their homes, stack their material piles according to our guidelines, and fill out the YCFSC Neighborhood Chipper Interest Form at www.tinyurl.com/ycfscchipper.

Neighborhood Chipper Program: Guidelines to Qualify for Chipping

Yolo County Fire Safe Council is offering FREE reflective address signs to residents living in the high fire areas of Western Yolo County. These signs work day and night to easily display addresses that aid first responders in finding your home during an evacuation or other emergency. Even long after you have evacuated, these signs, visible in smoky or low visibility conditions, help first responders orient themselves in your neighborhood to better communication their location and find their way. 

These 6 inch wide by 24 inch tall signs have 4 inch numbers and are CALFIRE and Yolo County Fire Chiefs approved. To receive a Reflective Address Sign, you must be living in the high fire areas of Western Yolo County (West Winters, Esparto, Capay Valley) and must fill out our Reflect to Detect Address Sign Interest Form at www.tinyurl.com/reflecttodetect.