Vacaville council adopts ordinance designating wildfire hazard severity zones; mayor to send firm letter to Cal Fire

Vacaville City Council on May 20 adopted an ordinance that designates moderate, high and very-high fire hazard severity zones in parts of the city following recommendations from the State Fire Marshal and Cal Fire.

The council followed a presentation from Fire Chief Chris Concepcion and Fire Marshal Jill Childers that explained the state hazard mapping process, which uses a science-based model that evaluates fuel, weather, topography, historical fire behavior and expected flame lengths. Staff emphasized the distinction between "hazard" (natural likelihood of burning in its untreated state) and "risk" (the likely damage given existing conditions and mitigation measures such as defensible space and building hardening).

The draft map submitted by the State Fire Marshal showed limited areas designated as "very high" (largely along Highway 80 and in Lagoon Valley) and broader areas marked as "high" or "moderate," generally following the city's hillside contours. Concepcion said the state model does not account for local mitigation measures such as recent fuel breaks, defensible-space efforts, home-hardening, or completed weed abatement work; those measures reduce risk but do not change the hazard score produced by Cal Fire's model.

City staff also reported an extensive outreach campaign after the city received the state's recommended map on Feb. 24: the city published the recommendations online on March 6, conducted multiple public meetings, and sent more than 39,000 email notices in English and Spanish. Staff said they will forward public comments they collected to Cal Fire even though Cal Fire had declined to accept comments directly.

The council voted to adopt the ordinance and to authorize a position letter to Cal Fire requesting corrections and clarification of the map and its methodology. The letter, as drafted by staff, expresses the city's disagreement with certain map classifications and asks Cal Fire to confer with city staff on local data corrections and specific map features (for example, where mapped lines follow canals or roads rather than parcel contours).

Roll-call votes on the ordinance recorded: Stockton (no), Ritchie (yes), "Furrier Mount" (no), Wylie (yes), Vice Mayor Chapman (yes), Mayor (yes). Councilmember Silva recused himself from this item because of property proximity disclosures announced earlier in the meeting. The final motion carried; staff said the city manager would send the positional letter to Cal Fire immediately.

What it means: Adopting the state-recommended hazard zones triggers compliance duties: new construction in mapped high and very-high zones will need to meet CA Building Code Chapter 7A (wildfire-resistant construction) where applicable. City staff and the fire department stressed that the hazard map does not remove the value of ongoing local mitigation efforts. Public commenters pressed concerns about insurance impacts, and city staff relayed Cal Fire and state insurance-commissioner guidance that hazard maps are not themselves used directly for underwriting but that some of the same underlying data are used by insurers.

Next steps: City staff will forward public comments to the State Fire Marshal, transmit the positional letter to Cal Fire, and continue outreach about mitigation measures and grant opportunities to fund local fuel-reduction work.