The Alameda County Coordinator Grant Program will host a Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP) Toolkit Workshop on June 18 at the Hayward Training Center.

Using the CAL FIRE CWPP Toolkit as a framework, this workshop is designed to help local agencies, fire service personnel, planners, emergency managers, and community partners better understand and participate in the CWPP development process. The workshop will focus on building collaborative planning efforts across jurisdictions and disciplines while providing practical tools and resources that participants can apply in their own communities.

Local government participants will learn how to establish an effective CWPP process, leverage the Alameda County-wide CWPP in local planning, and align CWPP development with existing planning documents, including General Plans, Hazard Mitigation Plans, Regional Priority Plans, and other local and regional planning efforts. The workshop will also explore how ongoing programs, available data, and planning resources can support CWPP development and implementation.

The workshop will be led by Carol Rice of Wildland Resilience Management, a fire management consulting firm with more than 40 years of experience in wildfire and urban-wildland interface planning. Rice has guided the development of more than 30 Community Wildfire Protection Plans, ranging from local Fire Safe Councils and fire districts to countywide plans. She has authored and presented more than 50 technical papers and presentations on fire ecology, fire behavior, and wildfire risk assessment and is the author of Managing Fire in the Urban Wildland Interface: Practical Solutions. Her extensive experience developing and facilitating CWPPs throughout California will provide participants with practical insights and real-world examples they can apply in their own communities.

Supporting the workshop will be Sheryl Drinkwater, a licensed California architect, LEED Accredited Professional, and Board Member of the Diablo Fire Safe Council. Drinkwater brings extensive experience in wildfire resilience, home hardening, defensible space, land use planning, and the development of the 2025 Alameda County Community Wildfire Protection Plan update.

The workshop team also includes Stacey Sargent Frederick of Wildland Res Mgt, whose career has focused on the human dimensions of wildfire, community engagement, wildfire science communication, and Community Wildfire Protection Plan development. Frederick has worked with communities, Fire Safe Councils, local governments, universities, and nonprofit organizations throughout the western United States to support collaborative wildfire planning and implementation.