The Marin Wildfire Protection Agency Authority (MWPA) was created with the passage of Proposition C on March 3, 2020. The Agency MWPA is a Joint Powers Authority composed of 17 taxing authorities that represent all of Marin with the exception of Belvedere and Tiburon. The MWPA was formed to develop and implement a comprehensive wildfire prevention, education, and emergency preparedness plan throughout most of Marin County. Key elements of this program include: fuel reduction; improved wildfire detection, warnings and evacuation routes; low income grants; public education; defensible space evaluations; and local wildfire mitigation.
The MWPA organizational structure includes three tiers. The Board of Directors is composed of one elected official from each of the 17 Agencies, the Operations Committee is made up of a combination of fire officials and town managers from the Agencies and the Technical Advisory Committee has Agency representation plus a variety of stakeholders such as FIRESafe MARIN, environmental organizations, Marin County Open Space District, Marin Municipal Water District and others. An important advisory group is the Ecologically Sound Practices Partnership which is a collaboration between the fire authorities and climate and environmental organizations to mitigate the risk of wildfires wisely. The coalition works as advisors to the fire professionals, defining best environmental practices to guide the implementation of the wildfire prevention plans and offering expertise and recommendations on specific projects.