AHAH Monthly Program Update - California Wildfires (March 2021)

CALIFORNIA WILDFIRE RELIEF UPDATE MARCH 2021

TOTAL PROGRAM IMPACT

2 1,012 6 216

ACRES CLEARED

VOLUNTEER HOURS

VOLUNTEER TRAINEES

HAZARD TREES FELLED

Current Activities We’re pleased to share that our first month of this pilot program has been a great success. The classroom portion of the chainsaw training and wildfire mitigation program took place in the first week and since then, our volunteer trainees have been out in the field. Working across an area spanning two acres, they’ve so far felled an impressive 216 hazard trees and made 110 burn piles.

They’ve also built defensible space around a private home.

Butte County Fire Safe Council has awarded us with their monthly recognition award, and feedback from the trainees has been overwhelmingly positive, so the team are looking forward to expanding the program in April, when they’ll welcome the first cohort of DM12 volunteers.

Volunteer Spotlight Esteban is finishing up his first month in the chainsaw training program and has done a stellar job. Esteban is a long time AHAH volunteer and has been on 12 programs! Esteban has also just been accepted into college to study Public Works & Non-Profit Administration.

"One of the things that struck me about AHAH is the kindness I came across, not just in the will to serve communities but in each day between each other, teammates, fellow volunteers, staff or no.

There are numerous problems in the world and they once overwhelmed me. It was encountering this dynamic of holding onto compassion at each step of the process that gave me hope that humans can do right by one another and make the world better together. There are no shortcuts, I try to remind myself of that each day, all things can begin with love and courage" Esteban, Volunteer Trainee.

Learn about our programs at

allhandsandhearts.org

Disaster Profile While the wildfire season (historically May through October) is a natural part of California’s landscape; in recent years it has started earlier, and finished later, and the wildfires have increased in size eightfold since the 1970s. The annual burned area has grown by nearly 500%, and this year saw the biggest fire season ever recorded in California’s modern history. The climate crisis is considered one of the key drivers of this trend, with ongoing droughts causing dry vegetation and dead trees that are more susceptible to severe wildfires.

Our Work One of the deadliest wildfires in California’s history is the Camp Fire, which tore through the town of Paradise in Butte County in 2018. In the two weeks it raged, 153,335 acres of land were burned, destroying 18,000 structures and resulting in the loss of homes for 30,000 people (source: PBS).

All Hands and Hearts launched a pilot wildfire program in Paradise in early 2021. Alongside local partners, our focus is on fire mitigation projects, such as creating fuel breaks and defensible spaces by felling and removing hazard trees. A core component of this pilot is our sawyer training program, which is helping to build further capacity in our organization. In May, we’re also planning to expand our scope of work to include recovery activities, such as internal home rebuilds.

About All Hands and Hearts We effectively and efficiently address the immediate and long-term needs of communities impacted by natural disasters. We communicate directly with local leaders and community members and then deploy our unique model of engaging volunteers to enable direct impact, helping to build safer, more resilient schools, homes and infrastructure.

We have earned a 4-star rating by Charity Navigator for the seventh year in a row. This year, only seven percent of rated non-profits received this distinction for financial and operational efficiency

Our Partners

info@allhandsandhearts.org