Wildfire Mitigation Grant Program Projects on Hold Until January 2024

New individual projects under Ashland’s Wildfire Mitigation Project, a FEMA Pre-Disaster Mitigation Grant, on hold until January 2024.Due to the City’s ongoing efforts to fill staffing vacancies, NEW projects under Ashland’s Pre-Disaster Mitigation Grant program will be postponed until January 2024. The one staff member currently working on community wildfire risk reduction programs is focused on completing currently active projects that have been adversely affected by the staffing shortage while the department works to refill the FEMA-funded wildfire risk reduction position. Learn more and stay up to date on this important project by visiting ashland.or.us/FEMAPDM.Ashland’s setting, history of wildfires, and increasingly long, hot and dry summers put the community at risk of wildfire each year. Using targeted analysis, Ashland Fire & Rescue’s (AF&R) Wildfire Division proactively assesses risk, seeks out funding, and works with citizens to lower risk through mitigation, education and enforcement.

In 2018, the entire City of Ashland was designated as a Wildfire Hazard Zone after a comprehensive analysis of risk factors. This allows proactive fire prevention codes to be applied during construction projects. For homes already in place before the 2018 code adoption, voluntary mitigation is essential to lowering the city’s overall risk and that work can be onerous and expensive. To help our community lower wildfire risk, AF&R continually seeks grant funding for our risk reduction programs.

The largest grant award we’ve received to date is a $3 million FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) Pre-Disaster Mitigation Grant. The City applied for this grant in 2018 and the grant was awarded in April 2021 and will remain active until April 2025. This funding could help up to 1,100 homes throughout the city reduce their wildfire risk. Approximately 250 properties have already participated in this FEMA Pre-Disaster Mitigation project. The monies help homeowners create defensible space for wildfire around their home or replace flammable wood shake roofing. Learn more about adapting to wildfire on the City’s Fire Adapted Ashland webpage, FireAdaptedAshland.org.