By Julie Cart | CalMatters
Reflecting intensifying wildfires and updated science, new state maps designate more than 2.3 million acres of local land in California as facing “high” or “very high” danger of wildfires.
In the wake of devastating fires in Los Angeles County, the Fire Marshal’s office is gradually releasing updated maps for local jurisdictions after Gov. Gavin Newsom issued an executive order last week. The previous statewide maps were released from 2007 through 2011.
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In those jurisdictions, city or county fire departments are first responders and enforce fire safety rules. The areas designated as “high” or “very high” would be subject to the strongest state standards for wildfire-resilient buildings.
Fire hazards in California have grown, in part, because of climate-driven droughts and a longer, more dangerous wildfire season.
“We are living in a new reality of extremes. Believe the science – and your own damn eyes: Mother Nature is changing the way we live and we must continue adapting to those changes,” Newsom said in a press release announcing the executive order. “California’s resilience means we will keep updating our standards in the most fire-prone areas.”
Statewide 800,000 acres of land with local responsibility were classified in 2007 as “very high” hazard, the only category used at the time. The new maps now designate 1.16 million acres as “high” and an additional 247,000 acres as “very high,” according to a press release from the governor’s office. Fire Marshal officials said they cannot estimate what percent of total acreage that encompasses until local authorities review and adopt the maps.
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Maps released Monday apply only to inland Northern California — Butte, Colusa, El Dorado, Glenn, Lake, Lassen, Modoc, Nevada, Placer, Plumas, Shasta, Sierra, Siskiyou, Sutter, Tehama and Yuba counties. The other maps will be released over the next six weeks.
In some cases, the recategorizing of the “very high” hazard acreage is substantial. For example, in 2011, Lake County had just five acres of unincorporated land in that zone while the new list released on Monday 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.
On the other hand, a few areas within the 16 counties, most notably Placerville and Redding, fared better — their acreage in the highest hazard category dropped substantially.
While fire severity maps for local jurisdictions were more than a decade old, hazard maps for the 31 million acres under the responsibility of Cal Fire — almost a third of the state’s total area — were updated last year.
In 2021 the legislature required adoption of the state’s three severity classes for local responsibility areas: very high, high and moderate. Previously, only the highest designation was required in local jurisdictions.
State officials will notify 404 cities and counties about the designation changes via a rolling regional schedule. The North Coast and Bay Area designations will 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 Fire Marshal’s office. Once an updated map is released, local officials have four months to incorporate the recommendations for the new hazard rating.
Newsom’s order also directed the state Board of Forestry to adopt regulations requiring a five-foot ember-resistant zone around structures in the highest severity fire zones.
The ember-resistant zone is intended to address the threat of firebrands carried by winds from igniting a home that may be miles away from the fire front. So-called Zone 0 state regulations are currently under development and would apply to new and existing buildings in the highest severity zones. Newsom’s order said the regulations are likely to apply immediately to new construction but would be phased in over three years on existing homes.
Fires have been unusually active so far this year, with 359 fires and nearly 58,000 acres burned, compared to a five-year average of 175 fires and 500 acres. They have also been deadly: 29 people have died in fires since January.
Officials said it does not bode well for the rest of the year. “This is what 2025 is going to look like, unfortunately,” Cal Fire Chief Joe Tyler said while the fires in the L.A. area were still burning. “I need everybody to be prepared.”