This has been true for over a year, but we just found out about it! In the process of investigating California Department of Insurance requirements, we found, in the process, that the city of Berkeley (and BFD) is the ONLY city in the Bay Area recognized for “… meet[ing] best practices in local fire planning.”
The CDI writes that “Fire Risk Reduction Communities are local agencies located in a state responsibility area or a very high fire hazard severity zone that meet best practices for local fire planning. Fire Risk Reduction Communities are certified by the California Board of Forestry and Fire Protection.”
The map of all communities recognized by CalFire (as early as 2024) in the whole of CA only shows 11 cities, and a total of 50 fire districts. Interestingly, Moraga-Orinda Fire Protection District, EBMUD, and the East Bay Regional Park District are also recognized in the same manner. This should make us feel good since they are our neighbors and therefore more likely to perform better in wildfire prevention and mitigation.
This is a singular honor, that shows us, in Berkeley, to be on the forefront of wildfire mitigation. It also brings us two specific benefits [video]:
- we get priority in CalFire wildfire prevention grants
- insurance companies must consider the fact that homes are a part of an FRRC when looking at ratings plans. I assume this means they end up giving us a bit of a rate cut if they offer policies where we are.
