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Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
PG&E and California Fire Foundation Open Applications for Wildfire Safety and Preparedness Grants
More than $1 million in grants, public education, and outreach funded in 2025; Applications Accepted May 30 through June 30 OAKLAND, Calif., June 2, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Ahead of California's peak fire season, Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) and the California Fire Foundation (CFF) are encouraging California-based fire departments and community-based organizations to apply for grants for wildfire safety and preparedness programs and projects. Applications must be submitted by 11:59 p.m. on June 30, 2025, through the CFF website. Award notification will begin July 31, 2025. The grant program continues an eight-year partnership between PG&E and CFF. PG&E and The PG&E Corporation Foundation (PG&E Foundation) are providing a total of $1.65 million to CFF's Wildfire Safety and Preparedness Program (WSPP). The program continues to raise public awareness about wildfire safety and deliver resources to underserved communities in high fire-risk areas. The program includes a competitive grant program that last year awarded 55 local fire departments and community groups $750,000 in funding. This year's program includes increased funding for $950,000 in grant awards. Funding for these charitable donations comes from PG&E shareholders, not customers. In 2024, funding supported: Purchasing approximately 7,560 pieces of personal protection equipment including helmets, boots, gloves, goggles and fire shelters Removing over 21 acres of hazardous tree and brush Chipping and hauling of 1.5 million pounds of tree limbs, branches and other combustibles Conducting 22 prescribed fires or pile burns for forest management "Now in its eighth year, the Wildfire Safety and Preparedness Program serves as a constant reminder to Californians of the recurring and deadly nature of wildfires," said Angie Carmignani, Executive Director of the California Fire Foundation. "Whether during historic wildfire seasons or quieter periods, the program has remains steadfast – reaching communities year after year to ensure they're prepared for wildfire. Our partnership with PG&E has been instrumental in making this life-saving work possible and directly supports CFF's mission to strengthen disaster preparedness across our state." Since 2018, CFF, which administers and manages the program, has awarded 368 grants to fire departments and community organizations statewide, focusing its efforts in Northern and Central California. Funding targets communities identified as having extreme or elevated fire risk as identified by the California Public Utilities Commission. "PG&E is grateful for our ongoing partnership with the California Fire Foundation as we share the goal of helping our hometowns do everything possible to prevent wildfires. The projects that these grants fund, such as creating defensible space, enabling fuel-reduction programs and conducting fire-safety outreach campaigns, are essential across our service area and especially within underserved communities," said Mark Quinlan, PG&E's Senior Vice President, Wildfire, Emergency & Operations. How the Grants Help Communities From 2018 to the present, PG&E and the PG&E Foundation have provided $10.45 million in total support for fire safety awareness through the program. The charitable contributions are shareholder-funded, not paid for by PG&E customers. Since 2018, WSPP has funded: Specialized fire equipment and personal protective equipment Defensible space and vegetation management efforts Fuel/hazard reduction programs Fire prevention and emergency preparedness education, including senior citizen wildfire preparedness programs Partnerships with community groups in high fire-risk areas to distribute fire-safety information Fire safety outreach campaigns, including 12,000 multi-lingual brochures targeting under-resourced communities in English, Spanish, Chinese, Hmong, and Vietnamese The program develops and distributes in-language fire-safety messaging targeting Spanish, Chinese, Hmong, and Vietnamese communities. These efforts include a comprehensive media campaign consisting of outdoor billboards and in-language television, radio, and digital ads. The California Fire Foundation, a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization, aids firefighters, their families, and the communities they protect. CFF's Firefighters on Your Side program, also supported by PG&E, provides multi-lingual, culturally relevant fire safety messaging in both digital and print forms to assist the public in staying safe. 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 and 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 California Fire FoundationThe California Fire Foundation, a nonprofit 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. View original content to download multimedia: SOURCE Pacific Gas and Electric Company
Yahoo
07-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
PG&E Participates in First-Ever Autonomous Wildfire Suppression Demonstration in California
HESPERIA, Calif., May 7, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Pacific Gas and Electric Company recently joined elite fire professionals, top state and federal officials, and senior leaders representing philanthropy, insurance providers, and other electric utilities for the first-ever autonomous wildfire suppression demonstration in California. A Sikorsky Black Hawk® helicopter equipped with autonomy systems from Lockheed Martin and Rain tracking and engaging multiple fires across a site, pulling water from dip tanks and extinguishing ignitions – all controlled via tablet — during the first-ever autonomous wildfire suppression demonstration in California, April 2025. Organized by Rain and Sikorsky, a Lockheed Martin company, the demonstration took place in in the Silverwood region of the Mojave River Valley nestled next to the San Bernardino National Forest. The demo featured a Black Hawk® helicopter equipped with autonomy systems from Lockheed Martin and Rain tracking and engaging multiple fires across the site, pulling water from dip tanks and extinguishing ignitions – all controlled via tablet. PG&E leaders and a PG&E safety infrastructure protection team (SIPT) attended the demonstration. "At PG&E, we are committed to ending catastrophic wildfires, and we have implemented several layers of protection and mitigation initiatives that have significantly reduced ignitions, but we know there's more to do and we recognize the need to develop the technology of tomorrow that will help keep California safe as our climate challenges evolve," said Mark Quinlan, senior vice president of Wildfire, Emergency, and Operations at PG&E. "To that end, we continue to work closely with innovators and changemakers like Rain and Lockheed Martin to adapt and adopt innovative tools and technologies to keep our customers and hometowns safe. I envision a day in the near future in which PG&E's fleet of Sikorsky helicopters, which we loan to CAL FIRE and counties in our service area, being equipped with this autonomous capability." Alameda-based Rain is a participant in a PG&E research and development project administered through the Electric Program Investment Charge (EPIC) program, which is exploring how drone-enabled and autonomous wildfire suppression technologies can reduce response times, reduce risk of ignitions becoming catastrophic wildfires, and reduce operating costs for field crews. Rain is also a participant in the XPRIZE Wildfire competition, of which PG&E is the Co-Title sponsor alongside the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, Presenting Sponsor Minderoo Foundation, Bonus Prize Sponsor Lockheed Martin and Supporting Sponsors Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, and benefactors Nichola Eliovits and Michael Antonov. XPRIZE Wildfire is a four-year, $11 million competition to develop and demonstrate fully autonomous capabilities to detect and extinguish wildfires. XPRIZE Wildfire includes two complementary tracks designed to transform how fires are detected, managed and suppressed:
