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Fire marshal presents new Local Responsibility Area maps; city updates ordinance language to cover 'moderate' zones
Summary
San Mateo Consolidated Fire briefed the council on recently released Local Responsibility Area (LRA) fire hazard severity zone maps and explained planned local code changes to include 'moderate' hazard zones so the department can apply Chapter 7A building standards and continue defensible-space inspections.
San Mateo — Fire Marshal Carissa Workman presented updated Local Responsibility Area (LRA) fire hazard severity zone maps and related fire-code changes to the City Council on June 16.
Workman told the council that the Office of the State Fire Marshal released updated LRA maps in March 2025 that identify areas as moderate, high or very high hazard severity zones. Under recent state law changes, cities must adopt the new LRA designations to establish land-use, building-standard and defensible-space authorities for those areas.
Workman said San Mateo’s updated LRA map identifies areas designated as "moderate" hazard zones (shown in yellow on the map) and that the city’s existing local fire-code language previously referenced only 'high' and 'very high' hazard zones. Fire staff proposed ordinance updates to add 'moderate' to the ordinance so the city can apply Chapter 7A of the 2022 California Building Code to new wildland-urban interface (WUI) projects and continue to perform defensible-space inspections and vegetation maintenance enforcement within LRAs.
Workman emphasized that hazard maps describe hazard potential over a multi-decade horizon and that hazard (physical likelihood of intense fire behavior) is distinct from risk (expected damage accounting for mitigation, existing home hardening and fuel reduction). She reviewed defensible-space guidance for homeowners and said San Mateo Consolidated Fire will proactively perform WUI and vegetation maintenance inspections in higher-risk months and on request.
Council members thanked the fire marshal and asked how staff will support community preparation; Council Member Diaz Nash noted positive feedback from a neighborhood outreach session. Workman said residents can call community risk reduction for guidance and inspections.
What’s next: Staff will finalize local ordinance amendments to include 'moderate' LRAs and file the adopted maps with the state as required by law. Fire staff will continue outreach, defensible-space inspections and community education ahead of higher-risk months.
