Property owners have multiple resources on the Web and by telephone to learn more about the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection’s annual fire prevention fees, according to a press release from CalFire.
The outreach effort is being implemented as a result of Assembly Bill X1 29, which was signed into law July 2011, establishing a fee for fire prevention services in the 31 million acres of State Responsibility Area, according to the CalFire release.
CalFire has established a website, www.firepreventionfee.org, which contains information about the fee, as well as helpful links to maps, the law language and answers to frequently asked questions. Also, a customer service call center is staffed Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., to further aid homeowners who have questions about the fire prevention fee. The call center number is 1-888-310-6447.
The revenue generated from the fire prevention fee pays for vital fire prevention services within the SRA, according to CalFire. Fire prevention services funded by the fee include strategic fuel reduction activities, defensible space inspections, fire prevention engineering, emergency evacuation planning, fire prevention education, fire hazard severity mapping, implementation of the State’s and local fire plans, and fire related law enforcement activities such as fire cause determination and arson investigation.
Under the law, the California Board of Equalization is responsible for collecting the fee, the CalFire press release says. The bills scheduled for mailing this year are for fiscal year 2012/2013. The fee applies to the homeowner of record as of July 1, 2012, for all habitable structures within the SRA. The BOE began mailing the fire prevention fee bills July 19, 2013.
