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Glendora staff: updated CAL FIRE hazard maps expand foothill risk; city must adopt maps within 120 days
Summary
City Manager Adam Raymond told the Glendora City Council that CAL FIRE's 2025 fire hazard severity zone update expands areas near the foothills — notably South Hills — increasing the number of properties facing defensible-space and wildland‑urban‑interface building-code requirements and giving the city 120 days to adopt the maps by ordinance.
City Manager Adam Raymond told the Glendora City Council that CAL FIRE’s updated fire‑hazard severity zone maps enlarge the areas considered very high, high and moderate fire risk in and around Glendora, singling out South Hills as newly included in the very‑high category. Raymond said the city has 120 days to adopt the state maps by ordinance and can choose to expand mapped areas but cannot shrink them.
Why it matters: The change would increase the number of homes subject to defensible‑space rules and to wildland‑urban‑interface (WUI) building standards for new construction or renovations, and could affect how residents and planners approach vegetation management, building materials and permitting.
Raymond told the council that the new maps increase the city’s very‑high fire hazard acreage from about 4,000 acres under the 2011 map to about 5,200 acres in the update, with roughly 600 additional acres classified as high and about 550 acres as moderate. He said the very‑high category grew by roughly 27 percent and the overall acreage impacted by the mapped zones grew by about 55 percent. The presentation included a side‑by‑side image of the 2011 and 2025 maps showing the expansion along the foothills and the larger area now covering the South Hills.
Raymond reviewed immediate implications for property owners: defensible‑space requirements in three zones (0–5 feet, 5–30 feet and 30–100 feet from dwellings) with different vegetation‑management expectations; potential application of WUI building‑code provisions for new construction and significant renovations (materials and, in some cases, household water supply and pressure); and the timeline for county inspections. He said Los Angeles County Fire plans to send defensible‑space inspection notices to impacted property owners in February 2026 (the county’s previous round of notices went out in February 2025).
Raymond quoted California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara, saying, “Cal FIRE’s maps are intended to drive local planning decisions, not insurance decisions,” and noted that insurers use their own models; nevertheless, he told council members he expected the public would perceive a link to insurance costs.
Council members asked staff about next steps and public outreach. Raymond said staff will include the maps in the city’s public‑safety and local hazard‑mitigation planning documents, publish FAQs and links on the city website and provide residents with guidance on defensible space and building‑code implications. He emphasized that the ordinance process provides a near‑term window for council direction and community input.
The presentation did not include a council vote to adopt or modify the maps; staff advised the council on the statutory timeline and outreach steps. Staff said the city can choose to expand the mapped footprint in a local ordinance but cannot reduce the areas designated by the state map.
Council and staff said they will post more detailed materials and links to the maps on the city website and return with ordinance language and implementation options for council consideration within the 120‑day window.
