The PG&E Corporation Foundation and California Fire Foundation Award $1 Million in Wildfire Safety Grants

75 Grants Support Local Wildfire Prevention, Preparedness and Emergency Response Efforts

OAKLAND, Calif., Sept. 22, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- With wildfire season a year-round reality in California, sustained prevention and preparedness efforts remain essential for communities throughout the state. To strengthen these ongoing preparedness efforts, the California Fire Foundation (CFF), with support from The PG&E Corporation Foundation (PG&E Foundation), has awarded $1 million in wildfire safety grants to 75 local fire departments, fire agencies and nonprofit organizations in Northern and Central California.

This is the ninth year CFF and the PG&E Foundation have partnered to award grants to help communities bolster their disaster preparedness and response programs. This year, the PG&E Foundation committed an additional $50,000 to enhance the grant program and provide more community funding.

CFF reviewed over 200 submissions during a month-long application window and distributed the annual wildfire safety grants to agencies in high wildfire-risk areas. The grant awards come during National Preparedness Month, observed each September to raise awareness of preparing for disasters and emergencies.

The grants will be used to purchase personal protective and specialized equipment for firefighters, complete defensible space and vegetation management work, reduce fuels and hazards, and conduct fire safety public education and outreach. See the list of grant recipients. 

The PG&E Foundation and Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) support CFF's broader 2026 Wildfire Safety and Preparedness Program (WSPP) with $1.8 million in charitable funding. The Wildfire Safety Grants make up $1M of the total charitable funding provided. The program works to raise awareness about wildfire safety throughout California and deliver resources to underserved communities in high fire-risk areas. The grants to local organizations are a core component of the WSPP, funding also supports CFF's public safety education and outreach multimedia campaign in a variety of languages.

"California's firefighters and local agencies work every day to protect lives, homes and communities from a wildfire threat that does not follow a traditional season," said Darrell Roberts, Chair of the California Fire Foundation. "We congratulate these dedicated grantees for their continued work in preparedness and service, especially as warmer-than-normal conditions reinforce the need to remain vigilant across the state. For nearly a decade, our partnership with the PG&E Foundation has helped local agencies secure critical equipment, reduce hazardous vegetation, strengthen public education and better prepare the communities they serve."

Since 2018, 505 grantees that include fire departments and fire agencies statewide have received $6.5 million in direct funding through the grant program as part of WSPP, and each year the program receives more applications than the prior year. Funding targets specific communities identified as having extreme or elevated fire risk by the California Public Utilities Commission High Fire-Threat District map. PG&E and the PG&E Foundation have provided $12.25 million in total support for fire safety awareness through the WSPP since the partnership began, with more than half the funding supporting community-based grants. The charitable contribution is shareholder-funded, not paid for by PG&E customers.

"Safety and our customers are at the heart of our partnership with the California Fire Foundation," said Sumeet Singh, Chief Executive Officer of Pacific Gas and Electric Company and Executive Vice President of Energy Delivery. "Behind every grant is the ability to better protect families, support firefighters, and strengthen preparedness and response when it matters most. Disasters do not stop at city or county lines, and neither does our commitment to one another. Together, we are deepening local partnerships and building a stronger network dedicated to protecting the families, neighborhoods, and hometowns we are privileged to serve."

The WSPP focuses on two key areas to help keep communities safe:

• A wildfire safety campaign that features fire safety education, developed by CFF, in English, Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese, and Hmong to promote early evacuation during fires. The WSPP has worked diligently to overcome language barriers by developing and distributing in-language fire-safety messaging. This campaign includes advertising on radio, television and digital ads, as well as outdoor billboards in high fire-threat areas.
• A grant program administered by the CFF through an application process. The CFF awards grants to recipient fire departments, agencies and community groups in support of projects and programs focusing on wildfire/disaster prevention, preparedness and/or relief and recovery assistance.

How the WSPP Helps Communities

Grant funding this year supports projects benefitting 4.2 million residents in 36 counties and include::

• Over 2,000 pieces of personal protection equipment such as helmets, boots, gloves, goggles, and fire shelters
• Over 600 pieces of specialized equipment including water storage tanks, portable radios, headlamps, hoses/clamps/nozzles, chainsaws and gear packs 
• Fuel reductions/vegetation management:
  • Multiple acres of hazardous tree and brush removal including over 80 acres of vegetation thinning
  • Hundreds of thousands of pounds of tree limbs, branches and other combustibles chipping and hauling
  • Hundreds of prescribed fires or pile burns
  • Multiple community safety projects supporting Fuel or Shaded Fuel Breaks and Ingress/Egress Routes

The CFF's Firefighters on Your Side program, also supported by PG&E, provides multilingual, culturally relevant fire safety messaging in both digital and print form, to assist the public in staying safe.

About The PG&E Corporation Foundation
The PG&E Corporation Foundation is an independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, separate from PG&E and sponsored by PG&E Corporation.

About PG&E
Pacific Gas and Electric Company, a subsidiary of PG&E Corporation (NYSE: PCG), is a combined natural gas and electric utility serving more than 16 million people across 70,000 square miles in Northern and Central California. For more information, visit pge.com and pge.com/news.

About California Fire Foundation
The California Fire Foundation, a non-profit 501 (c)(3) organization, provides emotional and financial assistance to families of fallen firefighters, firefighters and the communities they protect. Formed in 1987 by California Professional Firefighters, the California Fire Foundation's mandate includes an array of survivor and victim assistance projects and community initiatives. cafirefoundation.org

 

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SOURCE PG&E Corporation