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State fire-hazard maps prompt questions in Clear Lake; council told public hearing and adoption are required
Summary
City Manager Flora briefed the Clear Lake City Council on the Office of the State Fire Marshal's updated fire hazard severity zone maps, explaining that state law will require local adoption and noting potential consequences including land-use restrictions and insurance impacts.
City Manager Flora briefed the Clear Lake City Council on Feb. 20 about recently released fire hazard severity zone maps prepared by the Office of the State Fire Marshal and Cal Fire, telling the council the state will require local adoption of the recommended maps.
"There's going to be a lot of confusion about this," City Manager Flora said, adding that local agencies must adopt the recommended maps and may make them more restrictive but cannot make them less restrictive.
Flora walked the council through the differences between State Responsibility Areas and Local Responsibility Areas, and said the most recent maps (the agency's updated process builds on new science, local climate data and fire-behavior modeling) had identified portions of the city as higher-hazard in previous iterations. The city manager said the maps are recommendations from the state but that new state law requires local adoption and that a formal public hearing will be necessary within the statutory timeframe.
The council watched a state-produced video explaining the mapping methodology: hazard zones are derived by modeling probability of burning and expected fire behavior under extreme fuel and weather conditions for wildland areas, and by modeling ember transport and buffers in non-wildland areas. The video referenced Public Resources Code provisions used for the statewide mapping process and described how inputs such as slope, vegetation, wind and "brand load" (embers) determine buffer widths and hazard classes.
Flora warned of potential downstream impacts. "One thing we pretty much know for sure is that there's gonna be a lot of insurance impacts," City Manager Flora said, and noted a governor's executive order tied to very high fire hazard zones that calls for a "zone 0" standard — prohibiting combustible materials within five feet of a home in areas designated very high hazard.
During public comment Margaret Garcia asked whether a deck within five feet of a residence would count as combustible material; a staff member answered, "That is, no combustible materials within 5 feet of a residence within the very high fire hazard zone," and confirmed that a wooden deck or fence adjacent to the house would be included.
Vice Mayor Slooten and other councilmembers discussed outreach. Vice Mayor Slooten urged additional public education and noted a required public hearing is forthcoming; City Manager Flora cautioned that the city has limited discretion and that much of the regulatory detail will come from state agencies, which could leave the city responsible for local enforcement. Flora also said the city will try to coordinate with the fire protection district on implementation.
No formal action was taken; the council received the update and staff said it will schedule a public hearing and further outreach.
