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CAL FIRE map update expands Simi Valley wildfire hazard zones; county officials urge home hardening
Summary
Ventura County Fire Marshal Joe Morelli briefed the council on CAL FIRE’s updated Local Responsibility Area maps, saying Simi Valley’s mapped area increased 68% and outlining implications for home hardening, defensible space, and forthcoming state regulations targeting the first five feet around structures.
Ventura County Fire Marshal Joe Morelli told the Simi Valley City Council on April 7 that CAL FIRE’s updated Local Responsibility Area maps substantially increase mapped wildfire hazard in the city. Morelli said Simi Valley’s mapped area rose 68% compared with the 2010 maps; the city’s very high fire hazard area expanded about 14% and the state this year included high and moderate classifications that previously were not mapped at the local responsibility level.
Morelli explained how the maps were developed: CAL FIRE used fuel, weather, topography and statewide fire history from 1991 through 2020. He emphasized the maps do not incorporate recent fires after 2020 and that the state’s computer modeling has evolved since the…
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