Big Sur Chipping Program
CAL FIRE has awarded a Wildfire Prevention Grant of $1,165,250 to fund the five-year cost share Big Sur Chipping Program! The program is available to all residents that access Hwy 1 between Malpaso Creek and the San Luis Obispo County line.
Cal Poly Public Works Plan in Practice Webinar
Cal Poly’s February 2025 Public Works Plan in Practice: Lessons Learned from Rancho Rico Community Fuels Treatment Project webinar replay is now available for viewing. This two-hour webinar describes the planning, permitting, and execution of a CAL FIRE-funded fuels treatment project to create defensible space to make Rancho Rico and adjacent neighborhoods more wildfire resilient. Webinar presenters include the Resource Conservation District of Monterey County, the Esselen Tribe of Monterey County, CAL FIRE, Coast Wildland, and FABS. This project is a strong example of private, local, state, and Tribal organizations working together to better prepare Big Sur for wildfire.
Home Hardening
Also known as structure hardening, home hardening refers to fire-resistant upgrades to the structure. These include fire-rated roofs, multi-pane tempered glass windows, non-combustible siding, ember-resistant soffit and foundation vents, and metal roof gutters. See CAL FIRE Home Hardening guidance.
Defensible Space
Defensible space refers to landscaping/hardscaping, primarily focused on the 100-200 feet surrounding the structure, that interrupts the path of wildfire. Activities include removing dead vegetation and ladder fuels, replacing mulch with noncombustible alternatives, maintaining lawns and grasses, and spacing trees and shrubs to break up the continuity of vegetation. See CAL FIRE Defensible Space guidance.
911 Emergency Guide
Save your life or the lives of those you care about, and help First Responders help you! 911 Emergency Guide will help you help the First Responders who will respond to your emergency. By understanding the emergency process critical steps, you'll be better prepared to obtain the best possible outcome for your 911 emergency. Emergency topics include wildland-urban interface fires, structure fires, medicals, vehicle incidents, rescues, and hazardous conditions.
Big Sur Safety and Evacuation
What’s important to YOU and YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD? We invite you to participate in our Big Sur Safety and Evacuation Survey. This is an opportunity for you to be heard and help steer your neighborhood evacuation planning activities. Survey responses are posted real-time in the Big Sur Safety and Evacuation Survey Dashboard. Based on these results, we’ll create an action plan to move forward with those neighborhoods that are interested in developing safety and evacuation plans. The survey is available in Spanish and English.
Big Sur Vistor Guide
The Big Sur Visitor Guide is a public safety guide to help visitors navigate Big Sur safely and with respect for the landscape, fellow visitors, residents, and businesses. Topics include driving Hwy 1 safely, emergency response resources, congested areas, road conditions, weather, cellular service availability, camping and hiking, campfires, rest rooms, fuel, food, lodging, and shopping.
Big Sur StoryMap
The Big Sur StoryMap is a series of interactive two- and three-dimensional maps containing infrastructure, terrain, weather, fire history, and other information useful for becoming a fire adapted community. These maps are presentations of local data contained in Geographic Information Systems (GIS).
Big Sur Chipping Pilot Program
The July 2024 Fire Adapted Big Sur Chipping Pilot Program was a success! Over 10 days, we serviced 37 residential properties and two road associations, chipped 219 piles of vegetation resulting from defensible space work, and produced 342 cubic yards of chips. THANK YOU to: the participating neighborhoods; Perez Services for your exceptional work; and our generous donor who funded the pilot program! Big Sur Chipping Pilot Program Report.
Subscribe to Newsletters and Announcements
Click here to subscribe to Fire Adapted Big Sur (FABS) and Community Association of Big Sur (CABS) newsletters and announcements. FABS announcements and newsletters focus on wildfire resiliency topics. CABS announcements cover timely events, including community activities and road closures. Newsletters focus on CABS many initiatives, including disaster recovery, the Big Sur Destination Stewardship Project, the Big Sur Pledge, Sycamore Canyon Shuttle, California Coastal Trail, and community housing. FABS is a CABS program.
Origins
The National Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy (Cohesive Strategy) is a strategic framework, rooted in science, that guides stakeholders to work collaboratively to make meaningful reductions in risk and learn to live with wildland fire.
The three overarching goals are: 1) Restore and Maintain Landscapes. Landscapes across all jurisdictions are resilient to fire-related disturbances in accordance with management directives. 2) Fire Adapted Communities. Human populations and infrastructure can withstand a wildfire without loss of life and property. 3) Wildfire Response. All jurisdictions participate in making and implementing safe, effective, and efficient risk-based wildfire management decisions.
A fire adapted community is a human community consisting of informed and prepared citizens collaboratively planning and taking action to safely coexist with wildland fire. More fully, fire adapted communities are knowledgeable, engaged communities where actions of residents and agencies in relation to infrastructure, buildings, landscaping and the surrounding ecosystem lessen the need for extensive protection actions and enable the communities to safely accept fire as part of the surrounding landscape.
The national Firewise USA® recognition program, a component of Fire Adapted Communities®, provides a collaborative framework to help neighbors in a geographic area get organized, find direction, and take action to increase the ignition resistance of their homes and community and to reduce wildfire risks at the local level. Any community that meets a set of voluntary criteria on an annual basis and retains an “In Good Standing Status” may identify itself as being a Firewise USA® site.
