Help Us Protect Ojai from Wildfire

The Ojai Valley Fire Safe Council (OVFSC) is developing the first-ever Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP), a community-based comprehensive wildfire risk mitigation plan for the Ojai Valley and the Ventura River Watershed. CWPPs are authorized and defined in Title 1 of the Healthy Forest Restoration Act (HFRA) passed by Congress in 2003. The HFRA encourages communities to develop a CWPP to help reduce their risk to wildfire loss and, at the same time, to create healthier natural ecosystems. A CWPP is one of the most important components of a wildfire risk mitigation strategy for our community.

Ojai CWPP Planning Area

Communities and areas covered by the CWPP:

  • City of Ojai
  • Greater Ojai Valley
  • Upper Ojai
  • Meiners Oaks
  • Mira Monte
  • Oak View
  • Casitas Springs
  • Foster Park
  • Ojala
  • Matilija Canyon
  • North Fork Springs
  • Rose Valley

All unincorporated areas of the County within the project boundaries

We have entered into a new wildfire regime—what one researcher has named the Age of the Pyrocene. This new regime is driven and characterized by:

  • Climate Change
  • Extreme Weather Events
  • Extended Drought
  • Year-round fire season
  • Increased incidence of catastrophic wildfires
  • Record loss of life and property
  • Growing population in the Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI)

A recent study by Headwaters Economics has placed the Ojai Valley in the top 1% of the communities at risk of wildfire in the nation and the top 3% in California.

In 2019, in response to this increased risk from wildfire, the OVFSC began the development of a community-based, community-focused comprehensive wildfire risk mitigation strategy. The holistic vision of this strategy is to enable the Ojai Valley community to better prepare for, properly respond during, and recover more quickly from a catastrophic wildfire event. The resilience and community cohesion created by the Strategy will also strengthen the Ojai Valley community for other natural disasters and the effects of a rapidly changing world.

Risk-informed Wildfire Management Plan

The first step of this process was the development of the Road Map, an internal planning document prepared in 2019. From the Road Map, the first round of foundational, priority projects were designed, funded, and are now being implemented. The Ojai Valley CWPP is the next major step in the process.

Community-Based Process

Core Working Group

Help Us Create a Safer Community

Please subscribe to our mailing list to receive updates on the CWPP and more information about how to participate during implementation of the plan.

Funding for the CWPP is from USDA-State Fire Assistance Grant and the City of Ojai. Funding for supporting mapping, modeling, analyses and assessments is provided by CAL FIRE and Ventura County Fire Protection District.

Funding for this project provided by the California Department of Forestry and
Fire Protection’s Fire Prevention Program is part of the California Climate
Investments Program.