Community Wildfire Defense Grant (CWDG)
Proposal Narrative – City of Hercules
CWDG APPLICANT GIS COORDINATES
GIS Coordinates Reference Point Name: City of Hercules, Contra Costa County, California Latitude/Longitude: 38.009916 / -122.270587
Description: Hazardous Fuels Reduction/Fire-adapted Ecosystems Restoration Project Activities Boundary Area Latitude/Longitude: 37.98481 / -122.23666; 38.00151/ -122.21134
APPLICANT INFORMATION
Applicant Name: City of Hercules
Applicant Mailing Address: 111 Civic Drive, Hercules CA 94547 Applicant UEI# and SAM.gov Expiration Date: The City of Hercules' UEI# is U8KFYJ11EYX3 and the SAM.gov Expiration date is on July 9, 2025
Applicant Federal Tax ID#: 94-6027345
Primary Contact Person: Jeff Brown
Email: [email protected]
Phone Number: (510) 799-8252
Fax Number: (510) 799-2521
PROJECT INFORMATION
Name of the Project: The City of Hercules’ Hazardous Fuels Reduction and Fire-adapted Ecosystems Restoration Project
Community Name: City of Hercules
County: Contra Costa County
Congressional District: 8th
Grant Component Type: Hazardous Fuels Reduction/Restoration Implementation Project described in a CWPP (2019) and Local Hazard Mitigation Plan (2021), both of which are less than ten (10) years old
Brief Project Overview and Purpose
Provide a brief overview and purpose statement for the project, addressing the overall intent of this program to assist communities with planning and mitigating their risk against wildfire:
(3,000 /3,000 characters maximum)
The City of Hercules is located in the western portion of Contra Costa County, one of the nine counties comprising the San Francisco Bay Area. Hercules comprises a total area of 19.98 sq-miles, with 6.41 sq- miles of land and 13.57 sq-miles of water. The City is also centrally situated on the path of growth within the Bay Area - accessible by freeway to employment areas in West Contra Costa County, Northern Alameda County and the Benicia area. There is a Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) station in Richmond, nine miles south of Hercules, which provides West Contra Costa County with mass transit service to destinations along the industrial corridor between the cities of Richmond and Fremont and San Francisco. While the Union Pacific Railroad runs along the bayfront, Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway runs directly through the center of Hercules. Because Hercules is a planned community that's an extension of an urbanized area already served by major transportation and utility systems, 4 major planning documents on both the local/regional level were used in the development of the City's proposed Scope of Work (SOW) for its Hazardous Fuels Reduction and Fire-adapted Ecosystems Restoration Project:
• REGIONAL – In 2019, an updated Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP) was prepared and developed by the Diablo Fire Safe Council for all of Contra Costa County which identifies wildland fire hazards, prioritizes ways to reduce those hazards, and recommends measures for local communities to reduce ignitability of structures. The Contra Costa Countywide CWPP not only functions as a multi-year guiding document helping to facilitate the implementation of present/future wildfire hazard mitigation measures, it fulfills all standards established by the Federal Health Forest Restoration Act.
• LOCAL – Hercules City Council approved/adopted the City's first ever single-jurisdictional Local Hazard Mitigation Plan (LHMP) on May 25, 2021. Because the City does possess the bandwidth and governmental framework necessary to provide its future residents with needed urban services, the LHMP incorporates open space/conservation areas and provides for improved environmental design. Hercules' updated General Plan also included the addition of an EJ Safety Element.
More specifically, these planning documents: 1) Identify and prioritize targeted high-risk areas for hazardous fuels reduction treatments; 2) Recommend the preferred types/best methods of treatments that will protect community members and values that are currently & increasingly at-risk; and 3) Recommend efficient, cost-effective measures requisite to feasibly reducing the ignitability of structures throughout local areas addressed by the plan. To best utilize this information, Hercules will prioritize employing mitigation measures to protect life, property, and other values within identified areas of concern while working in collaboration with regional agencies to foster wildfire resilience across the local land.
Is Your Community Considered "At-Risk"?
Yes – Hercules, CA is considered “at risk.”
Yes – Hercules, CA meets the "wildfire hazard potential" criteria and has a higher wildfire risk to homes than 91.1% of communities in the nation.
**Web link to the CWDG Wildfire Risk Assessment Tool and verification source:
www.wildfirerisk.org/cwdg-tool/600033308
Roofing Code/Ordinance Status of the CWDG Applicant:
Yes, Hercules’ communities have already adopted a code regulation that requires roofs for new building construction, as well as the reroofing/replacement of a roof of existing buildings. In the City of Hercules, roofing projects must adhere to both the International Code Council (ICC) codes and any amendments or ordinances adopted locally and throughout Contra Costa County, all of which are outlined in the Hercules Building and Fire Code.
PROJECT DESCRIPTION
The application should clearly define the scope of the project, what the project proposes to accomplish, why it is important, and how it links to the Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy and relevant State Forest Action Plan: (7,500 /7,500 characters maximum)
Hercules has a unique history that has seen it transform from a small company town to a bustling community. The City was first incorporated in 1900 and remained small in stature until the 1970s, when Hercules’ first housing subdivisions were established, transforming our bedroom community into a bustling municipality and one of the fastest-growing suburbs in California. The 1990s witnessed continued growth and development, but by the turn of the 21st century, City officials recognized the need for long-term sustainability. This led to the 2000 Design Charrette, which involved over 300 participants outlining their vision for the community. The result was the Central Hercules Strategic Plan, which laid out how four underdeveloped neighborhoods would be transformed into thriving neighborhoods. Fast forwarding to 2025 with just over 25,920 residents, Hercules has only continued to grow as a transit- oriented community, utilizing smart-growth principles and ensuring that development conforms to the Central Hercules Plan.
Hercules has a very high risk of wildfire—higher than 91% of communities in the U.S. The Contra Costa Countywide CWPP was designed to complement existing emergency management planning and federal/state fire management planning by providing a detailed overview of local, state, and federal fire management in the City. From 2019 to 2024, City staff completed its integration of the CWPP with other relevant land user plans (e.g., single-jurisdictional L H M P, updated General Plan including EJ & Safety Element). To comprehensively understand Hercules’ community risks and how to reduce them, several risk categories specific to our project area—with identified Levels of Risk—stand out:
• Risk to Homes – Very High
• Wildfire Likelihood – Very High
• Risk Reduction Zones exacerbated by at least seven severe disaster impacts, as declared by FEMA between the years 2017–2023 – High
• Vulnerable Populations, including Community members who are living with a disability, whether cognitive or physical; Older Adults ages 65+; People of Color; and Residents with limited English proficiency – High
As the most diverse City in Contra Costa County, Hercules has large communities of immigrants and refugees, and many of these communities reside in areas with the oldest trees and many open planting spaces. By focusing its project on these areas, the City will promote equity, enhance the urban forest, improve public health and foster environmental resilience. During the CWDG duration, Hercules’ SOW is to:
o Foster individuals, groups, and organizations in the communities served to become engaged participants in urban forest planning, planting & management, especially those in disadvantaged communities who do not have adequate resources to install/maintain green infrastructure or are underrepresented.
o Remove/reduce fuels on Hercules’ urban community landscape. Because fuel treatments tend to be successful when combining multiple remedies required to disrupt the City’s potential for wildfire to spread/intensify, fuel management practices will complement other wildfire mitigation strategies, such as educating residents on how to manage the vegetation around their homes to reduce risks to people and homes. o Encourage proactive, systematic maintenance and monitoring of urban trees and forested natural areas to improve forest health; assess risk to forests from pests, disease, and adverse climate impacts; and formulate adaptive management strategies to improve forest resilience. o Protect, enhance and increase access to watersheds in urban and developing areas with a focus on conserving and managing forest patches, and green stormwater infrastructure. o Improve preparation for severe storms and the recovery of damaged or deteriorated landscapes to more healthy and resilient conditions.
Moreover, Hercules’ Hazardous Fuels Reduction/Fire-adapted Ecosystems Restoration Project aligns strongly with:
California’s Wildfire & Forest Resilience Action Plan (2021), particularly with regard to Goal #2 to “Strengthen Protection of Communities, ” as the City’s SOW involves all of the following components:
o Supporting Community Risk Reduction and Adaptation Planning; o Increasing Fuel Breaks;
o Protecting Wildfire-Prone Homes and Neighborhoods;
o Improving Utility-Related Wildfire Risk;
o Creating and Enhancing Fire-Safe Roadways; and
o Minimizing the Health Impacts of Smoke.
The National Strategic Committee’s Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy (2016) by further enabling crosswalk and strategic alignment with three of the outlined cohesive strategy goals: 1) Resilient Landscapes; 2) Fire Adapted Communities; and 3) Safe & Effective Wildfire Response.
Committed Collaborative Partnerships Formed in Support of the City of Hercules Hazardous Fuels Reduction and Fire-adapted Ecosystems Restoration Project are as follows:
1. Contra Costa County Fire Protection District (CCCFPD)
2. The Rodeo-Hercules Fire Protection District (RHFD) and Hercules Fire Station #76
3. Hercules Police Department
4. East Bay Wildfire Coalition of Governments
All four project partners and key stakeholders broadly support the CDWG project's removal/reduction of fuels on Hercules urban community landscape as a collaborative means toward more effectively mitigating against the environmental hazards that have become increasingly prevalent in the City and among planned project site locations (e.g., earthquake, wildfire, drought). There are currently 7,136 properties in Hercules that report major risk of being affected by wildfire over the next 30 years, further compounded and exacerbated by inevitably worsening climate change impacts. Because fuel treatments tend to be successful when combining multiple remedies required to disrupt the City's potential for wildfire to spread/intensify, fuel management practices will complement other wildfire mitigation strategies, such as educating residents on how to manage the vegetation around their homes to reduce risks to people and homes. This is why the project aims to foster individuals, groups, and organizations from the communities served by CWDG funding to become engaged participants in urban forest planning, planting and management, particularly among residents within Hercules' disadvantaged communities who have been historically marginalized, underrepresented and/or continue to disproportionately lack the adequate resources to adequately installing/ maintaining green infrastructure for bolstered environmental resilience capacity. Because 80% of all properties in Hercules have higher risk standards, we must increase access to watersheds in urban and developing areas with a focus on conserving/managing forest patches and green stormwater infrastructure. The City's proactive approach is part of a broader fire management strategy aimed at creating defensible space, reducing fuel loads, and better protecting Hercules communities/ecosystems from the destructive and impacts of wildfires. Advocating for the cutting/thinning of Hercules' flammable vegetation on the designated project landscape and at targeted high-risk areas will also encourage the proactive, systematic maintenance and monitoring of urban trees and forested natural areas to improve forest health, thereby minimizing both fire danger and potential future impediments when responding to emergencies or costly structural damages incurred throughout the Refugio Valley Corridor's multipurpose transit pathways.
TOTAL CWDG PROJECT FUNDS REQUESTED: $3,760,000
Applicant Match Amount: $1,894,755 (50% match contribution provided through City Planning Integration)
The following local equivalent plans and eligible match funding sources can be accessed by clicking on any of the links provided below.
1) City of Hercules - Single-jurisdictional Local Hazard Mitigation Plan (LHMP) 2021 LINK: www.herculesca.gov/home/showpublisheddocument/15573/637952272135800000 2) City of Hercules - Environmental Justice (EJ) Safety Element 2021 LINK: www.herculesca.gov/home/showpublisheddocument/15563/637950537334470000 3) City of Hercules - Parks and Recreation Facilities Master Plan 2024 LINK: www.herculesca.gov/government/parks-recreation/parks-and-recreation-facilities-master-plan 4) City of Hercules Strategic Plan 2017
LINK: www.herculesca.gov/home/showpublisheddocument/11151/636614738681130000 5) City of Hercules - General Plan Open Space/Conservation Element LINK: www.herculesca.gov/home/showpublisheddocument/12571/636777935669470000 6) Rodeo-Hercules Fire Protection District - Measure O to facilitate Fire Prevention Plan Review and Adopted Measures to fund ongoing Community Awareness Campaigns to increase awareness and foster engagement within the City of Hercules. Examples include Property Compliance & Inspections (as non- compliance may lead to forced abatement) and fire prevention staff working with local homeowners' associations (HOAs) and property management companies to promote education/training programming related to retrofit of existing homes and structures to improve their survivability.
LINK: www.herculesca.gov/home/showpublisheddocument/12571/636777935669470000
☒ Attach Project Budgetary Spreadsheet and Accompanying Budget Explanation Below:
PERSONNEL/LABOR ($1,300,000)
- Planning, Design & Permitting Work for Project Areas/Landscaping & Irrigation Activities (Design/Planting Palette, Engineering or Environmental Documents) = $100,000 - Site Preparation Work (Demolition, Clearing/Grubbing, Grading & Tree Mobilization) = $100,000 - Given that both the City of Hercules and Rodeo-Hercules Fire Protection District are both currently member jurisdictions of the East Bay Wildfire Coalition of Governments, conduct monthly to quarterly meetings between all partner entities and key project stakeholders.
Throughout this process, the project consultant can regularly assess the existing and ongoing collaborations that exist between federal, state, county, and local agencies before making new or improved recommendations for enhanced cooperation and communication capacities while also potentially helping to mitigate any disconnectedness identified between neighboring entities = $100,000
- Installation of Refugio Park Shade Structures and Repaired Fencing = $750,000 - City Staff Salary Designation for Project Oversight, Admin & Maintenance = $250,000
EQUIPMENT & MATERIALS ($385,000)
- Purchase of vegetation management equipment (e.g., chainsaws, heavy duty brush mowers that can be utilized for maintaining road right-of-way and for the project's pruning, mowing, chemical treatment or grazing activity = $250,000
- Hardware material needs for Prioritized Treatment of Structure Ignitibility and with Retrofitting Existing Structures for Improved Survivability Capabilities (e.g., create a vegetation mapping database for urban side of wildland-urban interface) = $75,000 - Public Education/Outreach Campaign: Project consultant will enable and encourage community involvement through the public outreach and engagement meetings to inform the proposed project SOW, as well as develop a list of community values that are widely considered most at-risk whether within or adjacent to the WUI (e.g., natural and cultural resources deemed of importance to individual communities, such as critical wildlife habitat, recreational sites, places of historical significance, environmentally sensitive areas) that would be prioritized when formulating treatment recommendations = $50,000
- Cache of air filtration units for use by at-risk individuals in the public and Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), including N95 filtering face respirators - Hercules/Contra Costa County Fire Protection District will help to raise public and private landowner awareness of issues and best management practices including: Appropriate timing of fuels treatment for reducing reproductive viability and survivability of invasive, non-native species, while doing least harm to improving native habitat values = $10,000
CONTRACTUAL ($1,575,000)
- Project Consultant tasked with helping to administer the City's Prioritized Fuel Reduction Vegetation Management Treatments that are geographically based & balanced with Resource Management Project consultant will collaborate with City staff and the RHFD/CCCFPD to complete the coalitions collective identification of local priorities for recommended fuel project activities. Treatment locations are to be prioritized based on the wildfire risk to wildfire urban interface communities and essential infrastructure, ingress and egress routes, and existing fuel conditions and historic fire and weather patterns = $1,000,000 - Environmental Review and Permitting required by Fuels Management and Fuel Treatment Prioritization = $250,000
- Development of specific fuel management treatment goals and methods that are to be addressed more fully via Hercules' Hazardous Fuels Reduction/Restoration through one or more of the following methods: 1) Manual (hand labor such as pulling or cutting; 2) Mechanical treatment (equipment used for mowing, selective cutting of trees, masticating or crushing); 3) Prescribed herbivory (targeted grazing by sheep, goats or cattle); 4) Chemical treatment; and/or Prescribed fire = $50,000
- Hercules project sub-contractor will also be initially be tasked with best ensuring Contra Costa County’s CWPP closely aligns with all existing fire management planning and hazard mitigation planning with assistance from project stakeholder committee members, including Hercules Fire Station #76, Hercules PD, the RHFD/CCCFPD and East Wildlife Coalition of Governments, Diablo Fire Safe Council, Contra Costa County Fire Chiefs Association and the East Bay Hills Emergency Forum = $25,000
- Identification of Key Ignition Resistance Factors as well as Homes, Businesses, and Essential Infrastructure At-Risk - This assessment is critical to helping further identify areas prone to structural ignitability and large fire spread due to the presence of heavy fuels, poor ingress and egress, limited fire response resources and general composition of structures in the community wildfire urban interface. Using this information, Hercules’ select project sub-contractor will work closely with the City to finalize a comprehensive list of feasible mitigation strategies and cost- effective treatments for reducing structural ignitability in the home ignition zone and around essential infrastructure and community values at-risk = $25,000 - Citywide and Regional Assessment of Local Wildfire Occurrences - Using existing fire history information and local knowledge, Hercules would work towards further determining common ignition sources and relative frequency of wildfires within the project area and produce a base map for review by the City. The fire modeling procedure discussed above would be coupled with the historic fire frequency data to produce a composite assessment that rates the landscape as low, moderate, high, and extreme risk of wildfire. Also involves obtaining the data updates requisite in order to finalize the City's evacuation maps and plans = $100,000 - Project Contractual Costs involved with all conducted activities related to tree evaluation, tree removal, tree pruning, tree replanting, tree ground debris removal (dead wood and sheading bark), as well as any weed and vegetation clearing that is implemented during the 5-year grant period in open space areas = $100,000
OTHER DIRECT PROJECT COSTS ($500,000) Maintenance of Fuels Project - Provide information on permits from the California Department of Fish and Game and Regional Water Quality Control Board. Partner with watershed groups for removal of riparian vegetation along seasonal or ephemeral creeks = $250,000
- Increase hazardous fuel load reduction balanced with biological resource protection to expand awareness of environmental sensitivity and permitting requirements, while also exploring assumption of what the City can do in terms of fire suppression and pre-fire fuel treatments (e.g. critical habitat recovery projects, regulatory agencies as partners, types of studies) = $250,000
ACCOMPLISHMENTS
A proposal should clearly define how a project will be accomplished, timelines and milestones, as well as measures and metrics. Examples include:
a. How the selected objectives will lead to measurable outcomes for community wildfire risk reduction.
b. How the applicant will measure progress towards those outcomes (such as, acres treated to reduce hazardous fuels, change in fire regime).
c. The proposed metrics for measuring progress, which must be specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and timely.
(7,500 /7,500 characters maximum)
Prior to FY 2025, the Reinvesting in Hercules Urban Canopy for Social Equity & Climate Resilience Program was developed as a proactive means toward improving the City’s urban forest resilience capability through the incorporation/adaptation of a tree inventory tool to facilitate tree planting activities, while also securing software conducive to tracking Public Works ongoing management effort in alignment with our newly adopted Parks and Recreation Facilities Master Plan (PRFMP). Hercules strives to reach canopy goals focused on restoration/social equity, as emphasized in its data-driven PRFMP .
Development of the General Plans Open Space and Conservation Element and PRFMP involved considerable outreach to engage and collaborate with forestry professionals, City leadership and the community. Managing the losses from Eucalyptus tree replacement is a relatively short-term problem within the long-term, perpetual stewardship of Hercules trees. The community risks associated with the Eucalyptus are understood by assessing the likelihood of failure of a tree part, the likelihood of the tree part hitting a person, and the consequences if that failure should occur. It isn’t possible to maintain trees in the City without assuming some risk, and the only way to completely eliminate risk is through tree removal or pruning prior to subsequent replacement of new species.
The impact will have considerable economic/social/environmental impacts for decades; similarly, when educated with the reasoning behind the removal of trees/insecticide use, a majority of respondents understood that it was sometimes necessary (95%) as a public safety issue. Hercules urban forest management and riparian reforestation should produce longer-term impacts by bolstering the City's urban tree canopy as an extension of revitalization development already taking place at Refugio Park, making multiple co-benefits accessible to historically marginalized communities/targeted EJ populations whose health disparities/inequities are exacerbated by: 1) Elevated pollutants/GHG emissions; and 2) Impaired water quality. Key activities at the programmatic site involve planting and growing 360 shade trees alongside a 1.47- mile-long multi-purpose pathway spanning from Refugio Valley Road to Redwood Drive, a project landscape area the City estimates 2,866 elementary/middle/high school students utilize daily. This oft-traveled transit corridor connects residents to community hotpots/vital resources (e.g., Hercules Recreational and Senior Centers, Library, Fire Station #76) and can support temporary irrigation systems until all planted trees are established. Core program components could also involve hiring for green jobs, funding urban forestry work, and creating local planting opportunities for enhanced educational opportunities. In 2023, Hercules retained SBCA Tree Consulting (WC-ISA Certified Arborist #9613Z) under City contract to evaluate hazard trees and recommend a variety of tree species anticipated to have a low VOC and high C02 absorption rate. SBCA Tree Consulting was primarily tasked with evaluating Tasmanian Blue Gum (Eucalyptus globulus) along the City multipurpose transit pathway—providing recommendations for remedial action on the roadway and entrance adjacent to Refugio Valley Park.
Past failures of the Eucalyptus trees prompted Hercules to take swifter action within designated target zones as limbs have fallen with increasing frequency, causing property damage and many near misses.
This safety issue is becoming a more time-urgent concern among Hercules' communities, particularly given the current volume of local students and youth choosing to walk or bike to school is at an all-time low of 8%. According to Hercules' EJScreen Community Report, transportation is widely recognized as a critical service gap due to the associated risk of Eucalyptus tree parts falling on commuters and subsequent ramification should such failures occur. Refugio Valley Roads pedestrian/ bicycle pathway was identified as high-risk for costly infrastructure damage during SBCAs Tree Risk Assessment, in which 93 trees were categorized as Priority 1—with recommended pruning/removal completed by Year 2—and a replacement ratio of 1.5 new drought-tolerant species for every 1 Eucalyptus tree removed. The 360 replacement trees will mature post-project completion into an increasingly resilient tree canopy capable of better protecting those who live/work in Hercules, providing simultaneous GHG benefit through improved air quality.
In addition to programmatic forestry and the City’s Public Works staff, there are multiple stakeholders— internal and external—who play a role in the planning, design, care and advocacy of Hercules community and urban forest. Working collaboratively with the public is without a doubt an important if not requisite step in offering meaningful, life-changing opportunities that are inextricably intertwined with jurisdictional decision-making processes, with facilitated outreach efforts having involved pop-up Tree Story Stations, a public open house, interviews with stakeholders, and technical working group meetings.
Based on these accumulated community inputs, the primary objective of Hercules Hazardous Fuels Reduction and Fire-adapted Ecosystems Restoration Project is to successfully implement the ecological and wildfire mitigation strategies from the CWPP , LHMP , PRFMP , and Hercules General Plans Open Space/Conservation and EJ Safety Element.
Methodology Approach:
• Integrate the goals of fuel reduction and wildfire mitigation with those of the existing local plans. • Emphasize treatments in areas where planning objectives overlap with land and ecosystem management plans and where treatments will enhance strategic suppression. • Prioritize the protection of water infrastructure, water resources and the associated Briones Watershed as a fundamental aspect of fuel treatment, while also continuing to prioritize landscape-scale treatments that benefit both ecological function and wildfire risk reduction goals.
• Ensure the protection of ecological values through planning objectives and adaptive management strategies that jointly work to reduce wildfire risk.
• Identify the necessary subject matter experts to facilitate project implementation, simultaneously using the project tracking application to document completed and ongoing milestones/deliverables.
Monitoring/Maintenance Requirements:
o Continue to implement the monitoring plans and techniques outlined in the existing management plans.
o Evaluate the impact of fuel treatments to both wildfire risk reduction and ecosystem health, including water resources.
o Maintain comprehensive records of fuel treatment activities as part of the CWPP reporting process.
o Maintain detailed records of all activities, project outcomes, and lessons learned. Communicate these with community members, local/regional partners, and other key stakeholders.
In the Collaboration Section, the City will go into further detail as to what a second objective of this project entails namely, collaborating with the Contra Costa County Fire Protection District, Hercules Fire Station #76, Hercules Police Department, and East Bay’s Wildfire Coalition of Governments to conduct cross-boundary fuel treatments along ingress/egress routes in order to address hazardous fuels along irrigation ditches/laterals and better safeguard critical drinking water and wastewater infrastructure.
PROJECT COLLABORATION
The application should clearly define collaborative elements including support from partners, agencies, landowners, and communities. A project proposal must identify partners that will be actively engaged in carrying out the project and add value to project planning and implementation, with a description of each partner’s role. Collaboration may be qualitative in nature, and the contribution of a partner may be more than the number of partners:
(7,379/7,500 characters maximum)
The Rodeo-Hercules Fire Protection District (RHFD) provides fire protection and emergency medical aid to the City of Hercules and the unincorporated area of Rodeo. RHFD is an independent autonomous fire district serving an area of approximately 26- square miles with a population of approximately 34,000.
Please note that RHFPD is nearing completion of an annexation by the Contra Costa County Fire Protection District (CCCFPD), effective July 1, 2025. Annexation with CCCFPD offers long-term financial stability for more fire and life safety service in the Rodeo-Hercules communities than exists now, and enhanced training and safety for firefighters, all without any anticipated tax increases.
Hercules Fire Station #76 will remain operational with no plans for closure, pending current revenue streams remain intact. Additionally, the LAFCo process ensures that service levels will either match or exceed current levels. There will be no layoffs, as all current full-time RHFPD personnel are to be integrated into CCCFPD if they choose to do so. Key findings from multiple reports (AP Triton, the Districts Strategic Plan, and the Management Assessment Plan) indicated that the RHFPD would continue to face four growing challenges head-on unless a change toward full consolidation and annexation had been initiated:
Insufficient administrative and training support led to compromised safety for both firefighters and civilians, thus increasing legal and regulatory risks, limiting organizational depth and deepening gaps made in succession planning.
With its small number of personnel and current equipment capacity, RHFPD was unable sufficiently keep up with the City and local areas rapidly rising demands for services without relying on mutual and automatic aid from external agencies. Because specialized services like fire investigation and rescue for specific hazards remain limited, RHFPD lacked the sustainable ability to staff large or prolonged incidents without external assistance. Despite moderate growth in property tax revenue, increased expenses had also begun creating a structural deficit for RHFPD that annexation will solve as a financially viable solution.
In preparation, both agencies are collaborating to enhance emergency preparedness, fire prevention, and response capabilities. To continue strengthening wildfire preparedness while reducing fire risks within the District, fire prevention measures (including vegetation management and public education campaign) in an ongoing effort to assist Hercules residents with improving home and community resiliency against the City’s high disaster risk percentile due to severe earthquake/flooding risk compounded by air pollution hazard specific to Hercules at-risk communities. RHFPD’s adopted budget from FY 2023–2024 had enabled the levy of a special tax funding replacement (Measure O) to finance fire protection and emergency services on all parcels of real property within the Hercules jurisdiction. This had previously enabled the existing level of fire prevention and emergency fire protection response services in addition to community programmatic resources made available to help residents prepare their homes for fire safety.
Committed & Collaborative Partnerships Formed in Support of the City of Hercules Hazardous Fuels Reduction and Fire-adapted Ecosystems Restoration Project include:
Contra Costa County Fire Protection District (CCCFPD)
Primary Contact: Fire Chief Lewis Broschard
Partner Role: Annexation will increase both the effectiveness and efficiency of the service delivery system and the efficiency of the administrative functions through shared resources. Each of the districts has varying levels of uniformed administrative support positions due primarily to their size. A challenge often faced by smaller districts is the necessity of individuals to serve in multiple capacities. An advantage to the annexation will be increased administrative and support services available to the combined organization (e.g., information technology, human resources, finance, contracts management, fleet maintenance, logistics and supply, etc.) Operationally, the organizations already work together with existing automatic and mutual aid agreements. However, the differences in alarm assignments or types, kind, and number of resources assigned based upon varied call types would have a more robust, standardized, and consistent weight of response. The net effect is a more consistent and effective response force as emergency operations will become more effective and efficient, while improving firefighting and public safety. For the RHFPD service area, additional enhancements will include access to specialized rescue and firefighting resources not provided directly by that district.
These include marine firefighting and water rescue teams, fire based hazardous materials response team, heavy fire equipment resources such as fire bulldozers, wildland fire hand crews, as well as technical rescue apparatus, equipment, and personnel for confined space, trench, and building collapse. Fire and arson investigation services will be enhanced through the use of Contra Costa County Fire Protection Districts dedicated Fire Investigation Unit. Moreover, the enhanced standardization applied across the expanded service area will ensure consistent response levels of equipment and personnel to structure fires, technical rescues, and vegetation or wildland fires matching with the current response matrix for CCCFPD. This will increase total response on the initial alarm for structure fires and vegetation or wildland fires in the RHFPD service area post-annexation.
Hercules Fire Station #76 and the Hercules Police Department Primary Contacts: Fire Chief Rebecca Ramirez and Police Chief Joe Vasquez Partner Role: Finalize the RHFPD’s evacuation maps/plans and work together with the Police Department and Fire District to conduct outreach programs related to this data (e.g., community training on emergency preparedness and response including evacuation routes and shelters).
East Bay Wildfire Coalition of Governments
Primary Contact: Supervisor John Gioia
Partner Role: Launched in April 2024, the East Bay Wildfire Coalition of Governments (EBWC) is a regional consortium of elected officials representing cities, counties and fire districts committed to safeguarding our communities and natural landscapes in the East Bay Hills. The City of Hercules has adopted and signed the Memorandum of Understanding for Coordination of Wildfire Prevention Activities to Protect the East Bay Hills in Alameda and Contra Costa Counties. Each Member Jurisdiction appoints one elected official representative (Councilmember Alex Walker-Griffin) and Fire Chiefs advise their respective elected officials and participate in EBWC meetings. An identified and immediate EBWC priority is for increased Vegetation Management capacity throughout the region, incentivizing distributed funding and support activities on behalf of Hercules to help promote the much-needed implementation of best practices for various vegetative types and the development of situational analyses to more comprehensively inform a CEQA-compliant, ecologically sound, and region-wide vegetation management plan that will provide guiding documentation moving forward for all participating member jurisdictions for further reaching-impact.
☒ Attach Project Letters of Support
LANDSCAPE IMPACTS
The application should clearly define the scale of the project including relationships with past, present, or future projects that, when combined, offer more benefits than when taken individually. The overall landscape that the project influences, in addition to the defined project area, should be clearly described, as well as the land ownership within the area. Specify areas targeted for planning or mitigation. Clearly describe each proposed activity and include details of where they will be occurring .
☒ Attach CWDF_Hercules Landscape Impacts Spreadsheet
PROJECT SUSTAINABILITY
Clearly define how or if the project will sustain itself after the grant period is over. Describe any plans or steps that will be taken to continue the project benefits beyond the life of the grant as well as who or what organizations are responsible:
(6,571/7,500 characters maximum)
As a joint and collaborative force, the RHFPD/CCCFPD annexation will build on ongoing efforts to continue the implementation of fire prevention measures in the City. This includes Community Awareness Campaigns made possible, in part, through expanded collaborative capabilities to feasibly enable the following actions:
• Proactive door hangers widely distributed courtesy of engine/truck company crews to reach the Hercules highest-risk neighborhoods, increase awareness and foster engagement among City residents and local business owners.
• Leveraging social media and the City website to broaden community outreach and public support for the training and enforcement of National Fire Protection Association and International Code Council codes.
• Compliance and Inspections, with non-compliant properties notified and inspected typically in late May or early June. Follow-up inspections continue until compliance is achieved (as non- compliance may lead to forced abatement).
• Fire prevention staff collaborated and worked with local homeowners' associations (HOAs) and property management companies to promote education/training programming related to the retrofit of existing homes and structures to improve their longer-term survivability. Assistance was also provided in partnership with Contra Costa County's Wildfire Mitigation Coordinator.
The benefits of annexation will inextricably contribute additional value to Hercules project CWDG project planning, design & implementation via:
o Enhanced Training and Operations: Standardization in training and operations will improve safety for both firefighters and civilians.
o Increased Response Capabilities: There will be more consistent and, in some cases, increased personnel and equipment responses to various incidents, including structure fires and technical rescues.
o Expanded Rescue Services: Additional specialized services, such as marine and water rescue, hazardous materials response, and wildland firefighting teams, will be available. o Improved Fire Prevention and Investigation: Fire and arson investigation services will be enhanced, with full-time personnel dedicated to fire prevention and public outreach. o Public Education Programs: CCCFPD offers educational programs in multiple languages, including juvenile fire prevention and annual safety education for schools. o Cost Savings: Combining administrative functions will reduce redundancies and lower operational costs in human resources, insurance, finance and administration, legal services, fleet maintenance, and equipment purchases.
o New Equipment: CCCFPD has committed funding for new fire engines, including a Type 3 and Type 6 wildland engine in FY 2025 –2026, and a Type 1 engine in FY 2026–2027.
Cost savings in this annexation will be achieved through reduced redundancy of certain administrative and support functions in the areas of legal and accounting services, fire prevention, training, fleet maintenance, reduced spare and reserve fire apparatus needs, and by combining technology infrastructure and other administrative functions. Additional cost savings will be realized from the elimination of the RHFPD Fire Chief position and part time Assistant Fire Marshal/Inspector, certain contracted services, and anticipated savings in reduced retirement and pension costs on a per-employee basis. Certain capital reserve funding programs or special programs unique to the needs of RHFPD can also be eliminated or reduced. The cost savings of the areas identified will be used to maintain and strengthen the deployment of operational resources for communities served by the combined organization.
Enhanced Standardization: The combined organization will standardize training delivery of recruit firefighters through the Contra Costa County Fire Protection Districts academy. Continued training of firefighters will occur through one Training Division under a consistent, well-staffed, and properly supported system. Operational policies and procedures will become consistent and standardized under one organization. Fire prevention and code enforcement services will be based on one fire code and supporting ordinances throughout the new service area. Procurement of apparatus and equipment will be contained under one standard within the organization, reducing training issues and increasing flexibility in deployment and fleet sustainability. Operational and large incident management will be standardized under the single organization’s leadership and emergency management goals and objectives. Responses to incidents, currently at varying levels based on each agency’s own service policies, will become standardized to meet a single standard for deployment. The standard applied across the expanded service area will ensure consistent response levels of equipment and personnel to structure fires, technical rescues, and vegetation or wildland fires matching with the current response matrix for CCCFPD.
The overarching shared collaborative and sustainability goals that helped to shape Hercules’ proposed CWDG project are to implement fuels reduction measures beyond defensible space to better protect the City’s infrastructure and surrounding communities in the increasingly likely event of a catastrophic wildfire and/or severe disaster occurring within the designated project site areas. This project will directly reduce risk to Hercules’ highest-risk communities, with three implementation locations along property boundaries that have been directly impacted by:
Severe Earthquake Risk – 76%
Wildfire Disaster Risk – 58%
Air Pollution Hazard Risk – 56%
Flooding Risk – 52%
Over the entire CWDG grant duration, the City of Hercules can continue to work with its committed local and regional partners to conduct fuel treatments along ingress/egress routes, which are key tributaries in the Briones Watershed. Several of the acres to be treated involve communities situated along the eastern boundary of Hercules and are continuous with the Briones Watershed, a 22 sq-mile area that feeds into the East Bay Municipal Utility District and Muir Land Trust. By nurturing its long-standing relationships and partnering agreements with the EBWC, CCCFPD/RHFPD, Hercules PD, and other land management organizations, the City can dually identify new opportunities for funding and hiring, further enabling the project’s contiguous efforts to reduce community risk, increase community resiliency, improve egress routes and firefighter safety, and ultimately decrease post-fire sediment deposition into local area critical water supplies.
Does this Project Benefit a Low-Income Community?
No – Hercules, CA is not considered an underserved community. Because it does not meet the low- income criteria, the City isn’t eligible to apply for a cost-share waiver. The Census Bureau estimates its median household income is between $118,542 and $133,218. To qualify in California, the low-end of the estimate must be less than $73,302.