Owner/Client: Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District
The Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District is the seventh largest fire agency in California with a service area of approximately 417 square miles in Sacramento County. Ascent developed a Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP) for the District. The CWPP compiles and maps risk factors for wildland fire, implements risk reduction and response planning actions, including a monitoring program, and shares data with interested stakeholders throughout the emergency management area and response cycle. The CWPP identifies wildfire risk reduction measures and incorporates mitigation actions with a focus on the wildland-urban interface. With data from Cal-Adapt and in collaboration with a fire ecologist, Ascent’s assessment of the risk factors examined the potential increase in frequency and intensity of wildfire associated with climate change-related effects, such as hotter, drier conditions, and a longer fire season.
Ascent also prepared the Initial Study/Mitigated Negative Declaration for the CWPP that evaluates the potential environmental impacts associated with several fuel treatment activities. Key issues included balancing fire risk reduction actions with habitat quality protection in sensitive locations, such as the American River Parkway.