The Volunteers In Prevention (VIP) of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE) are an efficient fire prevention and loss reduction education force for California. Each year thousands of wildfires burn hundreds of thousands of acres of California's watershed, timber, and grasslands. As a result, millions of dollars in damage are done to the environment; homes are destroyed; and lives are threatened and sometimes lost. With 95 percent of the wildland fires CAL FIRE responds to each year being person-caused, fire prevention and public life safety education are key to reducing losses from fires in California.

In 1980, CAL FIRE conceived and developed a fire prevention volunteer program and called it "Volunteers In Prevention". Citizen volunteers have been staffing and operating many aspects of CAL FIRE's fire prevention program ever since.

Volunteer Tasks

• Fire and Life Safety Education
• Public Information Education
• Wildland Occupant Firesafe Program
• Red Flag, Holiday, and Arson Patrols
• Communications