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The California Department of Forestry released a severity map for the new fire station on Monday, adding thousands of acres of local fire stations in Agriculture Central Valley County, where acres were previously zoned. The area with fires has increased by more than four times as much as Monterey and San Luis Obispo County on the Central Coast.
In total, agents have added more than 1.2 million acres to the zone, of which more than 300,000 are in severity zones where many of the state’s fire safety regulations apply.
The map covering 15 counties in Central California is part of the deployment of Cal Fire’s two-month new hazard zones in the area where local cities and county fire departments are responsible for responding to the flames.
The rollout marks the first update of over a decade to Cal Fire’s hazard zone in the local fire department’s responsibility area. These are referenced in at least 50 different sections of California code, from street and highway codes to health and safety codes. Previously, agents only mapped “very high” severity zones in their local area of responsibility. The new map adds what the agency currently defines as “high” and “medium” severity zones.
The state legislature first ordered the CAL fire, updating the map, including new “high” and “medium” zones in 2021. Under the same law, Congress has expanded to many fire safety regulations that apply to “very high” zones as well as to new “high” zones. These regulations require stricter building standards for new construction where homeowners need to use fire-resistant building materials, multi-pane windows that are less likely to be crushed in a fire, and cover open vents that allow Embers to easily enter the home.
In September 2023, Cal Fire updated a map of all three levels of hazard zones in areas where the state is responsible for responding to fires. The map, published Monday, also applies to areas where local agencies are responsible.
Cal Fire releases these maps in sections. This is one third of the four planned, with only Southern California remaining. So far, Northern and Central California have increased the area of regional responsibility areas in these zones by about five times. A six-fold increase was seen along the Northern California coast. The agency will release a map of Southern California on March 24th.
These recently published maps have seen a significant increase in Monterey and San Luis Obispo Counties, and a significant increase in cities sharing their names as an exception. In the city of Monterey, the two best zones have doubled the area from 1,100 to 2,200 acres, over 1,100 acres, while in the city of San Luis, Obispo, the area has increased from about 750 acres to over 3,400.
Proposal of fire hazard severity zones in local responsibility areas
Monterey, California.
Monterey Region
airport
2011 “Very expensive”
Hazard Severity Zone
San Luis Obispo, California.
Lospa dress
National Forest
Montagna de Oro
State Parks
California Department of Forestry and Fire Prevention
Sean Green Los Angeles Times
Santa Barbara and Ventura County saw a more modest percentage increase, but Ventura’s Simi Valley and Thousand Oaks in particular had more than 2,000 acres of zones each. (In the meantime, Santa Barbara was only one of the 93 cities mapped to see a decline in lyrics.)
Cal Fire’s zones represent what fire hazard areas face. It is a combination of the possibility that a fire will reach an area and its potential strength, not the risk of any particular properties that will sustain damage in a wildfire.
To calculate the zone, Cal Fire uses vegetation and climate data to calculate the probability and intensity of the wild burning. For developed land, agencies will focus on the dangers in the surrounding area and estimate the extent to which fires will run out into urban areas.
Cal Fire deals with the agricultural areas that make up much of the central valley, just like urban areas.
“Non-wildland zoning does not include a direct type of mechanical fire behavior assessment,” David Sapsis, CAL Fire Investigation Manager, who oversees mapping efforts, told the Times in January before the rollout began.
“Essentially, you say you have Wildland’s work next to it and urban and agricultural areas,” he said. The urban and agricultural areas adjacent to the wildlands “get the same wild score…and it collapses far away.”
Many Central Valley County, which previously had zero acres in the local fire department’s responsible area, are now thousands. Many of them are located in the new “high” zone, including Fresno, Madera, Tularia and Karn counties, along with almonds, pistachios and citrus orchards.
Cal Fire did not comment on why certain regions saw an increase or decrease in the “very high” zone. The agency said recent land development could cause changes in hazard zoning, noting that new maps have been updated, using more detailed climate and weather data and new ways that Ember can bring fires to areas where it has developed.
However, according to Cal Fire, the model does not take into account changes in vegetation caused by recent wildfires. Also, the home curing and brush management community is not in place.
This release causes a clock of around five months when local governments accept public input about new maps, officially adopt them, and begin to apply the increased regulations. Local jurisdictions may choose to increase local severity zoning, but they cannot be reduced.
Cal Fire asserts that hazard maps do not directly affect residents’ insurance fees, and says it models hazards (potentials in areas experiencing wildfires) rather than the risk of certain homes burning out.
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