The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection will begin rolling out a long-awaited update to its fire hazard severity zones Monday, which is set to more than double the number of acres in local fire jurisdictions that must comply with stricter fire safety building codes.
Previously, the state mapped and applied fire safety regulations only to local areas with the highest possible fire hazards, deemed “very high.” But in 2021, the state Legislature ordered Cal Fire to expand the mapping to include “high” hazard zones so the Legislature could apply fire-safety building regulations to the new “high” zones as well.
The new maps are expected to expand the roughly 800,000 acres currently in local fire jurisdictions zoned as “very high” by an additional 247,000 acres. Some 1.16 million acres will be categorized into the new “high” zones, according to a press release from the governor’s office…