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San Juan Capistrano council delays certification of CAL FIRE hazard maps after questions about boundaries and next steps
Summary
After a staff presentation showing the cityvery-high wildfire hazard acreage rose from 401 acres (2011) to 2,636 acres (2025), the council voted to continue action to July 15 while staff seeks clarifications from CAL FIRE on map anomalies and the ability to request targeted upgrades.
San Juan Capistrano The City Council on June 17 delayed formal adoption of updated CAL FIRE local responsibility area fire hazard severity zone maps after raising questions about apparent boundary anomalies and how the maps translate into local requirements.
Paul Garcia, a principal analyst in the city managers office, told the council that CAL FIREs 2025 map increases the citys very-high fire-hazard designation from 401 acres in 2011 to 2,636 acres and adds 2,658 acres identified as high and 727 acres as moderate. "These maps evaluate hazard and not risk, and that's an important distinction," Garcia said, explaining the statewide modeling…
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