Building a Fire-Resilient Harold: What the Next 5 Years Holds!🔥

🔥 Building a Fire-Resilient Harold: What the Next 5 Years Holds!

Hello, Harold community! Your Fire Prevention Council is taking action to secure a safer future for all of us. We recently attended a crucial meeting—a vital step in developing the 2026 Local Hazard Mitigation Plan (LHMP) for Sacramento County.
Think of this LHMP planning process as a powerful vehicle. It has the potential to drive us toward a much more fire-safe community, but just like any vehicle, it needs our commitment, care, and maintenance to get anywhere!
🎯 Our 5-Year Goal: A More Resilient Harold
The Local Hazard Mitigation Plan (LHMP) provides a framework to reduce our vulnerability to natural hazards, especially fire. Over the next five years, this plan enables several key activities:
* Financial Security: Having this FEMA-compliant plan in place is the prerequisite for applying for pre- and post-disaster federal funding for fire mitigation projects. This is how we fund crucial projects like defensible space programs, hardening critical infrastructure, and potentially building fire-safe structures.
* Integrating Fire Safety into Local Decisions: The plan's success hinges on integrating fire mitigation strategies back into the day-to-day functions of the county and local districts. We can leverage existing plans, like Community Wildfire Protection Plans (CWPPs), and pull them into the LHMP to ensure their implementation is supported by future funding opportunities.
* Better Mapping and Assessment: The planning process includes updating critical risk information, such as incorporating the latest Cal Fire mapping for fire hazard severity zones in State and Local Responsibility Areas. This data allows us to target our efforts where they are needed most, identifying which homes and parcels are at the highest risk.
* Targeted Mitigation Actions: The plan will identify, brainstorm, and prioritize a wide range of fire-specific actions. These go beyond just building physical structures and include emergency services (like backup generators), evacuation planning, and public education.
🛠️ What We MUST Do to Make the Plan Relevant
The plan is only as good as the community input that shapes it! The next steps are critical, and we need your involvement:
* Participate and Provide Input: We must actively provide our local data, information, and concerns to the LHMP Planning Committee. The committee is seeking the "best available data" on updated plans, programs, and what has changed since the last plan was updated in 2020. Your experience is the most important data point!
* Ensure Local Actions are Integrated: We need to identify fire prevention projects and policies already underway—such as current ordinances or fire plans—and ensure they are formally documented and integrated into the LHMP to secure eligibility for future funding opportunities.
* Prioritize Mitigation: When the committee begins to brainstorm and prioritize mitigation actions in the next round of meetings (scheduled for next year), we must clearly define which fire safety projects are the most effective and critical for Harold.
🚨 Call to Action: Invest in a Fire-Safe Harold!
To keep the momentum of this critical planning vehicle moving, we need two things: Time and Money.
1. Volunteer for Our Strike Team 🧑‍🚒
We need hands-on help right now to translate this big plan into local action:
* Strike Team Volunteers: Help us compile the necessary local data and documentation the LHMP committee is requesting. This involves gathering information on existing fire programs and ordinances so they can be included in the plan's annex.
* Fire-Safe Community Volunteers: Join us in practical, on-the-ground efforts like implementing defensible space workshops, organizing neighborhood chipper days, and distributing educational materials. Public education is a key category of mitigation that helps our community understand the hazards and their role in self-protection.
2. Donate to Support Our Mission 💰
Your donations directly fuel the on-the-ground preparedness and education work that complements the LHMP planning process:
* Fund Essential Tools: Donations help us purchase materials for community education, support local fuel reduction efforts, and cover administrative costs associated with coordinating our volunteer teams and gathering the necessary data for the LHMP.
* Maintain Our Momentum: The planning process is year-long. Your financial support helps us ensure consistent participation and dedication of resources to secure the best possible outcome for Harold.
Let's work together to drive this plan to a successful adoption by the end of next year. A safer Harold starts with you!
Click here to Donate or Sign Up to Volunteer: [Heraldfirecouncil.org]