California § 4291.6

§ 4291.6.

(a) (1) The Legislature finds and declares that the use of trained volunteers to assist homeowners and fire agencies in achieving compliance with defensible space requirements will provide multiple benefits, including all of the following: (A) Creating a significant public benefit by reducing the risk of the spread of wildfire. (B) Creating significant savings for fire agencies by increasing general compliance with defensible space requirements, and thereby reducing the volume of inspections required by public agencies. (C) Allowing fire agencies to focus their defensible space regulatory enforcement on landowners who are not in compliance after suggestions for voluntary compliance from trained volunteers. (2) It is further the intent of the Legislature that the department do both of the following: (A) Establish a pilot program using trained volunteers with any costs for the pilot project coming from the existing funds made available to the department from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, created pursuant to Section 16428.8 of the Government Code. (B) Consider using the services of the California Fire Science Consortium and the Regional Forest and Fire Capacity program at the Natural Resources Agency to implement this section. (b) The department shall develop and implement a training program to train individuals to support and augment the department in its defensible space and home hardening assessment and public education efforts. The training program shall do both of the following: (1) Provide for consistent training for third-party assessors who shall function to provide nonregulatory assistance to homeowners to reduce fire risk and to achieve compliance with defensible space requirements. (2) Ensure that all defensible space and home hardening assessment and education programs undertaken by the department and by third parties are conducted to the same standard and use coordinated messaging, including messages at www.readyforwildfire.org or a successor internet website, as updated by the department. (c) Upon an individual’s successful completion of the training program, the department shall issue a certification of completion to the individual.