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Council adopts CAL FIRE’s 2025 fire‑hazard severity map for Buena Park
Summary
By unanimous vote the council adopted the state fire‑hazard severity map; a small northern portion of Buena Park is now designated high/very‑high severity, triggering building‑code and defensible‑space requirements for affected parcels.
The City Council adopted an ordinance codifying the State Fire Marshal’s 2025 fire‑hazard severity zones for Buena Park, as required by the California Public Resources Code.
City Attorney Christopher Cardinelli explained the ministerial nature of the adoption: municipalities that provide fire service must adopt the maps for local responsibility areas. The adopted maps identify a small portion of northern Buena Park as falling within high or very‑high fire severity: Cardinelli said this affects three single‑family parcels and roughly 42 townhomes in the Buena Terra development.
Cardinelli cautioned that the hazard designations are based on long‑term physical conditions and do not by themselves equal immediate “risk,” but they do bring specific requirements: updated wildland‑urban‑interface building code provisions for new construction, a 100‑foot defensible space requirement, and disclosure obligations for sellers of residential property in those zones.
Staff noted the city appealed to CAL FIRE to reconsider the delineation but the appeal was denied. Code enforcement and OCFA will continue as the primary local enforcement mechanisms; staff said they do not currently plan increased proactive remediation and that enforcement tends to be complaint‑driven. Council approved the adoption unanimously.
