The name California Fire Safe Council (CFSC) has been used for two very different organizations. The original use of the name, from 1993 through mid-2002, referred to a loose consortium of local community-based fire safe councils and other organizations that shared the mission of making California's communities less vulnerable to catastrophic wildfire. It was funded by the state of California Resources Agency, Department of Conservation, Division of Forestry, also called CDF or CAL FIRE. It was led by staff from the CDF Prevention Bureau.
In mid-2002 a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization was formed by members of the former CFSC using the name California Fire Safe Council, Inc. (CFSCI). At the moment the CFSCI came into existence, the former CFSC ceased to exist because the CFSCI was specifically set up as a non-membership corporation. (Subsequently the Board amended the bylaws to create a class of "at-large members." However, these "members" have no voting rights.) The reason for creating the CFSCI was for it to be able to administer grants and collect the administration fee for operations rather than using grant funds for that function, since CDF had ceased funding for the old CFSC due to budget restraints.
In the early 1990s, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CDF or CAL FIRE) was facing increasing costs for wildfire suppression due to the influx of people building homes in what had previously been unpopulated wildlands. This area of mixed homes and wildlands is variously called the Wildland Urban Interface,[1] Urban-Wildland Interface, or the I-Zone (where I=Interface). Now during a wildland fire, more and more CDF firefighting resources had to be used to defend homes and lives, which meant that it was taking increased time and resources to get fires under control. Also, since over 90% of fires are started by human activity,[2] the number of fires was increasing due to the increased population.
In response, CDF stepped up its efforts to educate the public in "fire safe" principles, generally referred to as defensible space, which can prepare a home to withstand an approaching wildfire and allow the firefighting resources to focus on controlling the fire. These same principles reduce the chance that a house fire will spread to the wildlands. In 1991, the CDF Fire Prevention Unit introduced the "Fire Safe - Inside and Out" program as part of the ongoing "Fire Safe - California" campaign.[3] The intent of the new public awareness program was to help people who live in the wildlands learn to protect themselves and their property, inside and out, from wildfire. The program package included a video, a homeowners booklet, a fire safe checklist, a brochure, and a poster. The creator of the program, Bruce Turbeville, received a Bronze Smokey[4] in recognition of his efforts.
In 1993 the State of California was facing an extreme budget deficit. CDF's budget had been shrinking for many years, and with the sharp decline in 1993 and increasing costs, the Department could no longer sustain its level of service unless something new was done. In May, in a special edition of the CDF in-house newsletter, Communiqué,[5] CDF Director Richard Wilson announced the report entitled "Targeting CDF's Future", which was a result of an extensive planning project to identify ways CDF could improve its efficiency and effectiveness. One theme of the report was that CDF must "…seek out cooperative relationships with the private sector and other government agencies…"
A direct result was the formation of the “Fire Safe Advisory Council” in 1993 "as a means to help support the department’s shrinking education budget by enlisting the monetary and in-kind support of the private sector.”[6] Initially, the Fire Safe Advisory Council consisted of representatives of the building, insurance, real estate, and utilities industries plus various government agencies such as the California Office of Emergency Services.
The following year, when Rich Just took the position of Staff Chief for Fire Prevention and Law Enforcement at Sacramento Headquarters, he said: "The Fire Safe Advisory Council is [a] means of bringing together agencies and business leaders from insurance companies to landscape firms to work on providing dollars and ideas to spread the prevention message here in California. … The path prevention is taking now is toward "communities". We've seen the disastrous effects of wildfires over the past several years, where entire communities have been devastated by fire. Educating the public on the firesafe measures they must take to give their homes and neighborhoods a fighting chance has become critical here in California."[7]
Chief Just's vision inspired local Ranger Units to work with their communities to become fire safe. By 1995, two community partnerships were well on their way. One was the Shingletown Community Fire Safe Project in the Shasta-Trinity Ranger Unit.[8] Another was the Oakhurst-Ahwahnee Basin Community Fire Protection Project in the Madera-Mariposa-Merced Ranger Unit.[9] Having the local Ranger Units involved in fostering community partnerships was also the philosophy of CDF Director Richard Wilson: "As CDF takes the Fire Safe Council concept to local communities, the field will become an important resource and uniting force. Ranger units can and should play a leadership role in this effort to form local fire safe councils." Director Wilson also said: "As more Californians move into wildland/urban intermix areas, a coordinated group effort has to he made to keep them safe from wildfire . We can't afford to have a fire engine in front of every home day and night; we must help our communities prepare for fire before it happens."[10]
At this time, the former Fire Safe Advisory Council became known as the Fire Safe Council with the "mission to preserve California's natural and man-made resources by mobilizing all Californians to make their homes, neighborhoods and communities fire safe. More than 30 businesses and government organizations sit on the statewide council. The objectives of the organization are to unite members to speak with one voice about fire safety, use the marketing expertise and communication channels of member organizations to increase distribution of fire prevention education materials and empower grass roots organizations to create fire safe communities."[10] People interested in forming a local fire safe council were directed to contact their Ranger Unit.
In 1996, the Fire Safe Council/CDF, in cooperation with the Western Insurance Information Service, developed a Community Action Kit to assist the formation of local community-based fire safe councils. Also in 1996, as mentioned in the Community Action Kit, the updated "California Fire Plan" from CDF and the "Introduction to the I-Zone", sponsored by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CDF), the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (OES), and the University of California Forest Products Laboratory (UCFPL) both mentioned the value of creating local fire safe councils in California's communities.
By the end of 1997, the organization had changed its name to the California Fire Safe Council to reflect the increasing number of local fire safe councils being created around the state.[11] People wanting to form local fire safe councils were now directed to contact the CDF Sacramento Headquarters Public Education Office. By January 1998, there were 50 local fire safe councils, and a web site was created for the California Fire Safe Council, which included pages for each local council.[12] Local councils continued to form and to participate as part of the California Fire Safe Council coalition.
In 2001, several things happened that set the CFSC on a new path which eventually led to the formation of the California Fire Safe Council, Inc., a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation. These were:
Each of these is explored in more depth below.
Bruce Turbeville, who had developed and administered the CFSC since 1993, retired in early 2001.[13] At the March 8, 2001 monthly meeting, he "introduced [Deputy Chief] Bryan Zollner, the new Public Education Officer for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection."[14] Mr. Turbeville continued in his role as the Chairman of the California Fire Safe Council. Chief Zollner led the effort to establish the BLM Community-Based Wildfire Prevention Grants Program.
Due to the state of California's financial situation in 2001, CDF was facing a significant budget reduction,[15] which included cutting back on funding for the Prevention department. Since it was the Prevention department which funded the operation of the CFSC, Bruce Turbeville, who was still acting as the Chairman of the CFSC since his retirement in early 2001, was told that while CDF supported the Council, it could no longer be the sole source of funds; the CFSC needed to find other ways to support its programs[16]
In response to the wildland fires of 2000, President Bill Clinton requested, and the Secretaries of the Department of the Interior and Department of Agriculture submitted, a September 8, 2000, report, Managing the Impact of Wildfires on Communities and the Environment, A Report to the President In Response to the Wildfires of 2000. This report, its accompanying budget request, Congressional direction for substantial new appropriations for wildland fire management, resulting action plans and agency strategies and the Western Governors Association's A Collaborative Approach for Reducing Wildland Fire Risks to Communities and the Environment - A 10-Year Comprehensive Strategy - Implementation Plan have collectively become known as the National Fire Plan.[17]
The National Fire Plan, and the subsequent Healthy Forests Initiative (HFI), significantly increased Federal funding for projects on private lands, both "on the ground" and educational, that would reduce the wildfire risk to Federal lands.
For the first time, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) had funds available for grants to private organizations. Unlike the United States Forest Service, (USFS), BLM did not have any internal structure in place to administer grants to the private sector.
Initially, CDF planned to route BLM funds through its ranger units and then to the local fire safe councils.[14] However, this proved not to be a viable option because it would only be able to disperse the grant funds on a reimbursable basis.[18] This meant that grant recipients would not receive their grant funds until after work had been done and paid for, and local fire safe councils did not have the operating budgets to be able to do that.
Since the BLM funds could not be routed through CDF, a search was begun to locate a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that could accept the funds, disperse them, and provide an accounting to BLM. At the Monthly Meeting on June 21, 2001, Chief Zollner announced that the Sacramento Regional Foundation (SRF) had been chosen to serve as the grant administrator.[19] This program subsequently became known as the "Community-Based Wildfire Prevention Grants Program."[20] The Sacramento Regional Foundation agreed to host the grant program under contract with the Bureau of Land Management until 2006 or until it (the SRF) had hosted $10 million in grants, whichever came first.[16] In return for this service, the SRF received an administrative fee (AKA "indirect cost rate") based on the amount of funds it administered: 8% on up to $2,000,000; declining gradually to just 5% on over $10,000,000.[21]
In order to qualify to receive grants through the SRF, recipients had to be 501(c)(3) non-profit organizations, or have a fiscal sponsor which was a non-profit, such as a Resource Conservation District. Alternatively, the California Community Forests Foundation (CCFF) was available to work with local fire safe councils that did not yet have 501(c)(3) status.[22]
Indeed, the CFSC itself used the CCFF to administer "five grants provided by the Bureau of Land Management via the Sacramento Community Foundation. These funds will support for the ongoing development of the California Fire Safe Council by providing for the Fire Safe Council executive director and council administration and development of public education outreach materials including a new Fire Safe Council webpage (www.firesafecouncil.org)." A total of $716,665 was received from the Sacramento Regional Foundation for these grants.[23]
The SRF operated the Community-Based Wildfire Prevention Grants Program for 2001 and 2002, at which point it was nearing the $10 million dollar limit it had agreed to. Something else needed to be done.
The idea of formalizing the California Fire Safe Council as a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation was first proposed at a monthly meeting on May 24, 2001.[18] Discussions eventually resulted in the Administrative Action Group (AAG) subcomittee taking on this task in April 2002.[24]
The work of the AAG resulted in the following:
It is important to note that the CFSCI was established as a non-membership entity under non-profit law. Subsequently the CFSCI Board amended the bylaws to create a class of "at-large members." The at-large members have no voting rights.
The CFSCI was set up as a non-membership organization because the AAG felt it would be too cumbersome to include representatives from all local FSCs in future voting, due to how many local councils there were and how difficult it was to determine how the various FSCs would be represented, given how many different types of FSCs there were. Instead, the AAG divided the state into three regions: Coast, Sierra, and Southern California, and created a seat on the Board for each region.[26] The intention was for these representatives to have an ongoing two-way dialog with the local councils in their regions and thus allow local councils and the Board to be in communication through the local representative.
The first meeting of the new Board of Directors[27] for the California Fire Safe Council, Inc. (CFSCI) was held on August 21, 2002. (Note that as of August 2008, the minutes from this meeting are not available online, so the information in this section was taken from the minutes of the General Meeting on August 22, 2002.[28])
The following Board members were elected officers: Bruce Turbeville, Chairman; Ken Blonski, Vice Chairman; Leo McElroy, Secretary; and David Horne, Treasurer. A nominating committee, a legislative review committee, a public education committee and a development committee [were established].
It appears that the CFSCI has not realized that a transition occurred when it was formed, as its Board and Staff members continue to make assertions that no longer apply. The following examples, taken from then-Chairman Bruce Turbeville's presentation to the Governor's Blue Ribbon Fire Commission, and from the CFSCI brochure[29] are illustrative.
The corrections below are not intended to detract from the valuable service provided by the CFSCI in its administration of the Grants Clearinghouse. They simply indicate that the thinking of the CFSCI has not kept current with the changes that occurred when the CFSCI was formed.
"Ten years ago, CDF formed the California Fire Safe Council."
"We are the statewide umbrella organization that supports community fire safety efforts and creates consensus on fire safety among diverse audiences. In California, we are the community-level cooperators implementing the National Fire Plan."
"The Fire Safe Council is a coalition of public and private sector organizations that share a common, vested interest in reducing losses from wildfire.
"The Fire Safe Council empowers communities to become fire safe."
The CFSCI is one entity among the over 100 independent organizations that focus on wildfire safety throughout the state of California. It has a somewhat different function from local fire safe councils in that its primary role is to administer Federal funding through the Fire Safe California Grants Clearinghouse on behalf of the members of the California Fire Alliance.
There was nothing in the Bylaws that created the CFSCI about the CFSCI having any control over local FSCs.[26] Local FSCs are independent organizations, as is the CFSCI. Bruce Turbeville himself said in his April 2002 White Paper[30] that he wrote during the process of forming the CFSCI: “Once formed, the local Councils did not want the [C]FSC telling them how to conduct their business, but did want the FSC to provide them with tools they couldn’t create on their own to facilitate the success of their Councils.”
However, in the past the CFSCI has made several attempts to establish a top-down organizational structure with itself at the head. All of these were eventually abandoned, and local fire safe councils have retained their indepencence.
The California Fire Safe Council, Inc. receives reimbursement for direct and indirect expenses for administering the block grants that go through the Clearinghouse. These funds are "restricted" in that they can only be used for activities associated with administering the Clearinghouse funds. These activities include conducting grant writing workshops on how to apply for Clearinghouse grants, convening the annual Review Committee that selects projects to fund and providing administrative support for that Committee, disbursing funds to the grant recipients, processing status reports from recipients, and other tasks required by the funding agencies. Operating expenses incurred by the CFSCI outside of grant administration, such as lobbying and fund raising, must be funded from other sources.
In addition, the CFSCI has received direct grants, both for Clearinghouse operation and for other projects.[31]
In 2009 and 2010, an attempt was made to obtain details on the various Federal grants the CFSCI has received so that an analysis could be done of how much Federal money has gone to the CFSCI itself for overhead, versus the funding that went to “on-the-ground” projects. This effort was only moderately successful. Three of the four agencies provided partial information: the Bureau of Land Management only provided information about indirect expense reimbursement. The US Forest Service and the National Park Service provided both direct and indirect reimbursement data, but not about all of their grants. Fish & Wildlife, alone among the four agencies, refused to grant a fee waiver. As of June 2010, an appeal is pending.
An analysis of the grants where full data was available on both direct and indirect expenses, about three-quarters of total Clearinghouse funding through 2010, showed that nearly 15% of the Federal funding went to the CFSCI rather than to “on-the-ground” projects.[32] This included a previously unannounced total of $370,000 in grants, including indirect expenses, to the CFSCI by the USFS ‘’in addition to’’ reimbursement for direct and indirect expenses in the 2005 and 2006 Clearinghouse cycles. Further, the USFS gave the CFSCI a direct grant in the 2003 cycle to set up the Clearinghouse in the amount of $60,000 in direct and indirect dollars. The existence of these grants, which came directly from the block grant funds intended for subgrants, only became known when the final list of recipients was received under the FOIA request.
This 15% overhead contrasts with claims by the CFSCI that administration is only 6 or 7%.[33][34] While it's true that most expenses go to programs, which is how they're reported to the Internal Revenue Service on the Form 990, every dollar that is spent on running programs is one dollar less that is available for actual on-the-ground fire prevention and should be considered overhead, regardless of how the cost is recorded on the Form 990.
From time to time the CFSCI has received grants from non-Federal sources, primarily insurance organizations. These funds may be restricted to specific activities or unrestricted. In some cases, funds that were originally restricted were changed to unrestricted at the request of the CFSCI so that the monies could be used for CFSCI operating expenses other than those associated with grant administration. Through 2008, some of the non-Federal funds received include:
In August 2007, the CFSCI announced the Million Who Dare to Care Program. The announcement [1] said: "Join "The Million Who Dare to Care" program of the California Fire Safe Council to help raise funds to provide services to homeowners and local Fire Safe Councils for fuels reduction around homes and in our communities." The flyer [2] stated "Your gift of just one dollar means the California Fire Safe Council can help homeowners prepare ahead of time for a wildfire." Thus the program was publicly positioned as a funding source for community fire safe projects.
However, internally the CFSCI Board of Directors appears to have considered the funds as being for its use as a source of unrestricted funds. The minutes from the August 2, 2007 Board meeting read:[39] "Dr. Horne [the CFSCI Treasurer] asked the Board to recognize the efforts of Ms. Rightmyer in conceiving of and implementing the “Million Who Dare to Care” fundraising program. ... Ms. Rightmyer ... commented that these are unrestricted funds…"
As of September 2011 there has been no public accounting of how much money was raised or how these funds were used.
While local units of CAL FIRE, which is a State agency, often provide "in-kind" matches for federal grants obtained by their local fire safe councils, the State of California has yet to supply a formal funding stream through the Grants Clearinghouse for community fire safe projects, such as is provided by Federal agencies.
As of September 2011, the CFSCI has made two known attempts, both unsuccessful, to obtain formal funding from the State of California, which the CFSCI would then administer through the Grants Clearinghouse, for its usual fee.
In 2006, a package submitted to California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger included the cover letter "Funding Allocation for Fire Safe Councils" signed by 10 members of the California Legislature[44] and the associated document "Proposal for General Budget Funding of California's Fire Safe Councils."[45] The reason for the failure of the proposal is unclear.
On February 23, 2007, the bill SB 838, "An act to add Sections 4742 and 4743 to the Public Resources Code, relating to fire prevention and protection"[3] was introduced by Dave Cogdill, the Representative for California State Senate District 14, and one of the signatories to the 2006 cover letter to the Governor. The bill failed in the Senate Appropriations Committee.
The California Fire Safe Council, Inc. (CFSCI) and the Fire Safe Council (NVFSC) are both 501(c)(3) non-profit corporations. Both are focused on reducing the wildfire hazard in their respective states. Like local fire safe councils in California, the NVFSC is eligible to receive Federal funding through the Grants Clearinghouse.
The NVFSC is structured as a membership organization. The local fire safe councils in Nevada are all members of the NVFSC and determine how it operates. Businesses and other organizations, as well as individuals, can also join.
In contrast, the CFSCI is a non-membership organization within the meaning of Nonprofit Corporation Law. While the CFSCI Board has amended the bylaws to create a class of "at-large members," these members have no voting rights.
The NVFSC is statewide while the CFSCI is one of over 100 organizations in California focusing on reducing the wildfire threat.
In 2005, "the Nevada Fire Safe Council received an appropriation from the Nevada State Legislature for $1,546,775 to establish a cost share, community-based wildfire threat reduction project, and to assist in the implementation of the recommended wildfire threat reduction projects as described in Community Wildfire Protection Plans."[46] As of September 2011, the State of California has not provided funding through the Grants Clearinghouse. However, most CAL FIRE Units do supply in-kind matching funds for grants received by their local fire safe council(s).
1996: CDF and the California Fire Safe Council created and distributed the Fire Safe California Community Action Kit to assist with the formation of local community-based Fire Safe Councils.
1998: The Bronze Smokey Award was given to the California Fire Safe Council for the Fire Safe California Community Action Kit. The Bronze Smokey is earned by outstanding contributions to local or statewide wildland fire prevention efforts over 2 years or more.[47]
1998: The CFSC was honored by the Public Relations Society of America for its role in the "El Fuego" campaign. "El Fuego" won the top award, Best of Show, surpassing more than 100 other corporate, governmental and organizational public outreach programs.[48]
2001: The CFSC received the prestigious Francis H. Raymond Award, which has been given annually since 1987 to the individual(s), organization, agency, or company achieving excellence in forestry in California over five years or more. The award is named in honor of Francis H. Raymond, director of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection from 1953 to 1970, and one of the primary advocates for the passage of the Professional Foresters Law in 1973.[49]
2001: The CFSC set up a the first Community-Based Wildfire Prevention Grants Program to funnel Bureau of Land Management National Fire Plan funding to implement fire safe projects on private lands. This concept has since expanded to other agencies in the California Fire Alliance and is now known as the "Fire Safe California Grants Clearinghouse."
2002: The "Homeowner's Checklist" from the "Fire Safe Inside and Out" program won the first place trophy in the Governor’s Clarity Awards competition. The goal of the award was to promote clear, concise and understandable language in state government documents. The program gave out 16 awards in 2002 when there were 111 entries from 33 departments in 10 agencies.[50]
2002: Created its successor organization, the independent California Fire Safe Council, Inc. (CFSCI)
The list below is based primarily, although not exclusively, on the minutes for CFSCI Board of Directors Meetings that were available online through December 2008 and the 2002 and 2003-2004 Annual Reports, which were the only ones available online as of May 2009. Where possible, supplemental web searches were done, and the links included. As of December 2008, approximately 50% of Board meetings either had no posted minutes or bad links, and portions of meetings that were held in Executive Session were not posted, so this list of accomplishments below may not be complete. Note that several non-Federal grants have been received for specific activities; these are listed in the section "Funding for the CFSCI."