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Council to authorize mayor's signature on letter questioning methodology behind expanded state fire-hazard zones
Summary
Council authorized the mayor to sign a comment letter asking Cal Fire and the Office of the State Fire Marshal to explain the data and methods behind the 2025 Fire Hazard Severity Zone map changes and to treat urban and wildland rulemaking differently.
The council authorized the mayor to sign a staff-drafted comment letter asking the Office of the State Fire Marshal and Cal Fire for the underlying data and analytic methods used to expand the Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone (VHFHSZ) east of the city.
Community Development Director Craig Schlatter and the ad hoc committee that reviewed the maps told the council staff found apparent inconsistencies in the state's materials, including the temporal window Cal Fire used to model burn probability, and whether qualitative assumptions about prevailing wind direction rather than NOAA wind-station measurements had been applied. Schlatter said staff's intent is not to reject the existence of fire risk but to request transparent data and to encourage a rulemaking approach that differentiates wildland and urban environments.
Council members asked staff to expand the ad hoc committee's charge to include follow-up work on rulemaking and legislative advocacy with groups such as the League of California Cities. The council approved the motion unanimously.
Schlatter said staff will correct a typographical error in the draft letter ("west" should read "east" in a specified sentence) before sending it and will seek to coordinate with local fire experts and the fire authority on the follow-up.
