Cupertino council advances CAL FIREmap update, hears countywide wildfire mitigation briefing

The Cupertino City Council conducted a public presentation on wildfire risk and voted unanimously to conduct a first reading of an ordinance that would adopt California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE) _recommended fire hazard severity zone maps_ and related municipal code updates. The discussion followed a presentation from the Santa Clara County Fire Safe Council on the countywide wildfire mitigation work and available community programs.

The vote to begin ordinance adoption was procedural: the council directed the city clerk to read the ordinance title and waived further reading. The first-reading motion advances a code amendment that will replace the citywildland-urban interface map in Cupertinomunicipal code chapters identified in the staff report and attach CAL FIREmaps as the official fire hazard severity boundaries.

Why it matters: the CAL FIRE maps indicate where state law expects jurisdictions to apply wildfire-related building and defensible-space standards, require real-estate disclosure at sale in designated zones and guide inspections and preparedness. While a designation does not itself ban building, staff and CAL FIRE staff told the council that parcels inside the mapped zones can be subject to different building standards for major new construction and to defensible-space inspections. The new maps expand the area designated "very high" within Cupertino's hilly western edge compared with the 2009 map.

Santa Clara County Fire Safe Council briefing

The Santa Clara County Fire Safe Council described a portfolio of programs aimed at reducing wildfire risk across jurisdictions. The…