'We Are Living In A New Reality.' CA Expands High Fire Hazard Zones

CALIFORNIA — A statewide effort to protect communities against wildfires is designed to change how we build.

This week, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire) started rolling out updated "Fire Hazard Severity Zones for Local Responsibility Area" maps. The maps, last updated in 2011, identify new areas where new development must adhere to the highest wildfire-resilient building codes and land-use planning standards.

The updated maps add approximately 1.4 million new land acres into the state's two highest tiers of fire hazard severity. Specifically, the Cal Fire maps expand strict wildfire building resiliency requirements across approximately 1.16 million new acres deemed to be in a "High-Fire Hazard Severity Zone." Approximately 247,000 new acres are being placed into a "Very High-Fire Hazard Severity Zone."

The expanded mapping doubles the acreage in these top tiers.

"To ensure future resiliency against urban firestorms, local government planners and developers will have to factor in wildfire-hardening requirements in building planning, design, and construction within nearly 2.3 million acres of land in areas where local governments are responsible for wildfire prevention and response, known as local responsibility areas," according to a Feb. 6 news release from the office of California Gov. Gavin Newsom.

The new Cal Fire mapping will also identify "moderate" fire hazard zones, its lowest hazard classification, but how many acres that could encompass is unclear.

The updated maps are being released one region at a time, and state officials are notifying cities and counties about the zone changes.

Maps released last week applied to the inland Northern California counties of Butte, Colusa, El Dorado, Glenn, Lake, Lassen, Modoc, Nevada, Placer, Plumas, Shasta, Sierra, Siskiyou, Sutter, Tehama and Yuba.

According to CalMatters reporting, the recategorizing of the "very high" hazard acreage was substantial in some of those Northern California counties. For example, the news outlet cited that in 2011, Lake County had just 5 acres of unincorporated land in that zone; the new map released last week identifies 10,881 acres.

"Yreka went from 723 'very high' hazard acres to 2,613 acres in the latest map, and Chico grew to almost 3,000 acres, compared with 117 in the previous map. Grass Valley’s acreage doubled, while Clearlake’s almost tripled," according to the Feb. 11 CalMatters report.

More maps are coming. The North Coast and Bay Area maps are scheduled to be released on Feb. 24, the Central Valley and Central Coast on March 10, and Southern and Eastern California on March 24, according to the state Fire Marshal’s office.

Once an updated map is released, local officials have about four months to incorporate heightened building codes and land-use planning standards. The hundreds of affected cities and counties can opt to increase the hazard area or ratings, but they cannot decrease them.

Cal Fire had planned to release the maps in January, but the devastating Los Angeles fires halted the rollout. On Feb. 6, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed an executive order that, in part, ordered Cal Fire to release the maps.

"We are living in a new reality of extremes," Newsom said in his news release that accompanied the order. "Believe the science – and your own damn eyes: Mother Nature is changing the way we live and we must continue adapting to those changes. California’s resilience means we will keep updating our standards in the most fire-prone areas."

According to a Feb. 9 Los Angeles Times report, Cal Fire insists the updated maps will not impact fire insurance rates for home and business owners because insurers have their own risk-evaluation models.

That remains to be seen.

Conversely, it's unclear whether significant home and business fire mitigation efforts could lead to a reduction in some California insurance premiums.

Communities designated as "firewise" by the National Fire Protection Association are supposed to get insurance discounts. Among the criteria are developing a wildfire risk assessment plan and creating and maintaining a wildfire action plan. (See the full list of "firewise" California communities here.)

It's also unclear whether "Zone 0" regulations might curb future California insurance premiums. As part of Newsom's Feb. 6 executive order, the State Board of Forestry was tasked with accelerating its work to adopt Zone 0. The regulations require an ember-resistant zone within 5 feet of structures located in the state's highest fire severity zones.

Zone 0 regulations are expected to move forward this year, according to the governor's office.

While it is anticipated the regulations would apply to new construction, requirements for existing homes would likely be phased in over three years "to allow homeowners time to prepare and prioritize mitigations and secure financial assistance," according to the governor's office.