In addition to educating the public about the danger of wildfire, including the need for vegetation mitigation and home hardening (hoping that 7,000 private property owners will solve the problem themselves with minimal assistance from the government), the City of Orinda does have two programs to assist property owners.

 

 

The Chipper Program

 

The city will dispose of vegetation that has been removed and which is more than fits in the weekly green-can.  It has had this program in effect since September 2022 and records the number of pickups and the volume of material collected.  Over the past year it has averaged about 100 pickups a month and removed 4,700 cubic yards of material.  That is a lot of vegetative matter but, unfortunately, it only averages about 2 green cans per property for the year.  This is in addition to regular green can disposal and is usually vegetation that is too large for the green cans but it probably has a small impact on the total amount of vegetation that needs to be removed to improve wildfire resistance.

 

 

The Grant Program

 

The grant program has been in place since mid-2023.  Initially the grants were capped at $500 and required a 50% match funding.  In May 2024 the cap was increased to $1,000 but the 50% match funding remained. While $400,000 was allocated to the program initially, over the 3 years the program has been in place, only $200,000 has been distributed.  Over the past 12 months,  $80,000 has been distributed and it is reported that this has helped pay for $375,000 of work. 

 

But as has been reported, wildfire prevention experts estimate that there is over $10 million of work needed to substantially reduce Orinda’s wildfire risk and $2 million a year to maintain it.  So, while the grant program is helping, it is not enough.

 

Recently (April 7, 2026) the City Council implemented an expanded grant program.  Individual grants have been increased to $1,500 and for groups of properties (5 or more), a $10,000 grant is available.  The 50% match funding requirement remains. 

 

The hope is that this will increase grant usage up to $200,000 a year, which would be a significant improvement but a far cry from the millions of dollars of work required to substantially increase Orinda’s wildfire preparedness.

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