From creating defensible space to having a to-go bag and evacuation bag ready, are you prepared for wildfire?
Learn about all of these topics and the state’s new Fire Hazard Severity Zone maps at a Wildfire Preparedness Town Hall from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Friday, April 18 in the Rancho Bernardo Library, 17110 Bernardo Center Drive.
Hosted by San Diego City Councilmember Marni von Wilpert, it is for all District 5 residents, including those in Rancho Bernardo, Carmel Mountain Ranch, Sabre Springs and Rancho Peñasquitos.
Speakers will include Capt. Michael Ramsey from San Diego Police Department’s Northeastern Division, Lt. Devore Brenton from SDPD’s Neighborhood Policing Division and Fire Marshal Tony Tosca from San Diego Fire-Rescue. Also scheduled are Erika Ferreira, deputy director of San Diego Parks and Recreation Open Space Division; and Sharon Smith, outreach analyst from the California Department of Insurance.
Walk-ins are welcome, though RSVPs are requested at tinyurl.com/RBfiretownhall25 because that is how attendees can submit a specific question they would like answered.
On March 24, Cal Fire officials released an updated Fire Hazard Severity Zone map with three zones — very high (red), high (orange) and moderate (yellow). It designates 157,338 acres in San Diego County as having a very high fire hazard, while 335,000 additional acres are labeled moderate or high.
The maps detail fire hazard levels across Southern California for areas where city and county fire departments are responsible for responding to incidents. They are the first new maps of their kind in 14 years.
Compared to the last maps from 2011, the county’s very high hazard acreage decreased by nearly 9%, but that is due to multiple factors, such as new neighborhoods built in previous open space.
“There are areas that were very high that are now high or moderate, also areas in the previous map not included anymore,” said Assistant Fire Marshal Daniel Hypes with the City of San Diego.
One reason is that after the state last issued the maps, the city expanded its zone to include homes along canyons, which the state had not drawn into its original draft, he said.
Hypes said city officials have not yet decided if they will again expand some of the zones. He said the state-created maps are in some ways very generalized, while local fire officials know of specific areas that should be included and can clean up the lines so that one house is not excluded while one next door is included.
According to Hypes, local officials do not get input on the first version of the state maps, which are based on fuel, topography, terrain and weather.
“We are not allowed to remove areas, but we could add … with substantial evidence,” Hypes said.
The San Diego City Council has 120 days from the March 24 release to adopt the maps by ordinance, Hypes said.
“There are a lot of implications we have to still look at by those affected,” Hypes said. For example, he said San Diego Fire-Rescue will base its proactive efforts such as door-to-door inspections based on properties and areas included in the zones.
Also coming into play are the city’s Planning Department, Development Services and Open Space Brush Management. All weigh in because if an area is included, that determines if new construction needs to follow the state’s Chapter 7A building standards. It impacts all new construction after 2007 and includes such things as roof materials, vents and noncombustible siding to make buildings more fire resistant.
According to Cal Fire Capt. Jim McDougald, it is not just homes but neighborhood design impacted in a very high risk zone.
“If you were to build a new home in the very high fire hazard severity zone, you would be required to build your house to Chapter 7A, which is the building standard,” McDougald said.
Builders would also have to follow more stringent standards regarding water supply, road widths, and ingress and egress paths.
Certain disclosures regarding the fire hazard must also be made in the event a home is sold and bought.
While Hypes said fire officials would ideally like to see higher standards on all new construction — and added to pre-2007 built homes — there is push back from the building industry.
“There are two arguments, so compromises are needed,” Hypes said. “From fire safety, it is let’s build to the highest standard, especially after what we saw happen in LA, but the housing industry states that they do not think all of that is needed, it is expensive and we are in a housing crisis.”
Cal Fire officials said the maps detail an area’s susceptibility to wildfire, not risk.
“What we’re mapping is the hazard of the wildfire, which is the probability and the intensity of wildfire,” McDougald said. “We’re saying that compared to the three zones, it’s got the highest probability that you have a fire that has the highest intensity.”
“Risk is the impact from that hazard,” he added.
Dave Sapsis, research manager with Cal Fire’s Fire and Resource Assessment Program and lead scientist behind the maps, said objective data is used to create them, but local review is wanted for modifications.
“There is not a huge amount of local input, but a local validation process … that reflects changes,” Sapsis said.
Burn areas from prior fires are not factored in because state fire officials are looking at “the long-term picture and fuels grow back,” Sapsis said.
“We do not have a lot of data for rare fire events,” Sapsis said.
According to Sapsis, the goal is mitigating risk, creating defensible space and protecting structures from ignition by hardening them. For example, by changing vent screens from a coarse to fine mesh that can protect homes from flying embers.
Having three zones instead of the previous one creates some confusion for people, Hypes said, because as Rancho Bernardo residents learned during the 2007 Witch Creek and Guejito fires, when Santa Ana winds are strong embers can fly far and spread fire quickly to homes far from the blaze.
Hypes also said that while the state maps are important, being in or out of a zone does not mean insurance companies will set rates accordingly because they have a different set of maps and criteria when issuing coverage and setting s.
“They look at fire risk in their own way,” Hypes said. “They do not care if you are in (the state’s) high zone, if they want certain things to drive up home hardening these (requirements) will not go away.”
Sapsis agreed that insurance industries are not necessarily using the maps for guidance and said if someone’s home is in a white area — the non designated zone — that it does not mean their s might not also rise along with the yellow, orange and red zones.
Christian Martinez, a staff writer with the San Diego Union-Tribune, contributed to this story.
