The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has announced a federal grant for the State of Colorado that will make more than $1.2 million dollars available to Boulder County to help mitigate the against wildfires.
The grant will fund two wildfire mitigation actions. The first is work to create defensible space for approximately 500 properties. The second is hazardous fuels reduction in an area of about 160 acres that will provide further protection on 27 properties where defensible space creation was previously completed.
Homeowner efforts to create defensible space will not just be a one-time effort. They will join the county's wildfire mitigation program, Wildfire Partners, to support continued maintenance of defensible space over the long-term and conduct comprehensive mitigation efforts to effectively reduce wildfire risk in a community that has been severely affected by wildfire.
FEMA is providing 75 percent of the project costs, a total of $1,215,630.82. Funding is provided through FEMA’s Pre-Disaster Mitigation Grant Program, which is designed to assist states, U.S. territories, federally-recognized tribes, and local communities in implementing a sustained pre-disaster natural hazard mitigation program. The goal is to reduce overall risk to the population and structures from future hazard events, while also reducing reliance on federal funding in future disasters.
Additional information about FEMA’s Pre-Disaster Mitigation Grant Program can be found at https://www.fema.gov/pre-disaster-mitigation-grant-program.