Agenda packet — Agoura Hills City Council, October 22, 2025 (part 4 of 4)

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these sensitivity studies. Note: As both the 2018 Woolsey Fire and 2025 Palisades Fire scenarios were extreme events, they did not provide significant variability in fire behavior conditions. That is, they would not be useful in identifying high priority areas in the landscape, as the entire landscape showed problematic fire conditions for both events.

Historical weather data was obtained from https://famauth.wildfire.gov/index.html/ or the Cheeseboro Remote Automated Weather Station (RAWS) from 2006 through 2024 (Figure 25). Fire Family Plus Version 5.0 (USDA Forest Service, 2020) was used to compare historical and current fire weather parameters associated with temperature, wind, and precipitation, and to generate a suite of inputs to the fire behavior models. The Cheeseboro RAWS is located northeast of the City of Agoura Hills at an elevation of 1,707 feet.

Figure 25. Weather station used for the wildfire behavior analysis.

Fire Danger – Energy Release Component (ERC) and Burning Index (BI) One key fire danger rating index related to weather and regional climate that is used to understand the potential for severe fire is the Energy Release Component (ERC) index. ERC is a number related to the available energy (BTU) per unit area (square foot) within the flaming front at the head of a fire. This index provides an approximation for fuel moisture conditions associated with climatological changes throughout a fire season.

Thus, the larger the ERC value, the potentially more severe the fire. Values typically range from 0 to 100, though they can be higher depending on weather extremes and fuel model. Specifically, ERC is used to describe fire danger trends because it is less sensitive to daily weather variations than other fire danger indices.

The ERC calculation is also affected by fuel loadings in different size classes. NFDRS Fuel model Y, the default analysis fuel model assigned the Cheeseboro RAWS includes both live and dead fuels and has a significant portion of the fuel load driven by large dead fuels.

This map shows the location of the Remote
Automate Weather Station (RAWS) used
to determine the historical and current
weather parameters as input into the fire
behavior models. Weather data is from
2006 through 2024.

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Large fuels are not a primary component in and adjacent to the City of Agoura Hills and therefore another NFDRS index, Burning Index (BI), is tracked by Los Angeles County Fire Department to monitor fire danger. The BI is an index that rates fire danger related to potential flame length over a fire danger rating area. The BI is expressed as a numeric value related to potential flame length in feet multiplied by 10. The scale is open-ended, which allows the range of numbers to adequately define fire problems, even during low to moderate fire danger.

Information on current BI indices is located at https://fire.lacounty.gov/fire-weather-danger/.

Figure 26 provides the variation in historical maximum, minimum and average values of the ERC and BI fire danger indices for the Cheeseboro RAWS from 2012 – 2025. The 90th and 97th percentile conditions are shown with grey lines and are indicative of when extreme fire behavior may occur.

Based on the results of weather, ERC and BI analyses, high fire conditions can occur almost any time throughout the year. As ERC values are tracked by Predictive Services (https://gacc.nifc.gov/oscc/fuelsFireDanger.php) and BI values are monitored by LACoFD (https://fire.lacounty.gov/fire-weather-danger/), both indices can be monitored to provide an indication of potential fire danger on a daily basis based on the thresholds identified in Figure 26. Finally, the weather conditions at the 97th percentile annually were used as inputs into the fire behavior models used to inform the hazard component of the CWRA.

Figure 26. ERC (left) and BI (right) for Cheeseboro RAWS, National Weather Service station ID 045313.

Fuel Moisture
Fuel moisture is a dynamic variable controlled by seasonal and daily changes in the weather and is an important influence on wildland fire behavior. Simply stated, vegetation is most flammable when fuel moisture levels are low and less flammable when they are high. Fuel moisture levels will largely determine if a fire will ignite and spread. Fuel moisture is typically categorized as dead and live fuel moisture. + Dead fuels. Dead fuels act like a sponge absorbing or giving up moisture to the air and ground which surrounds them. The moisture exchange rate between dead fuels and their surrounding environment varies by the size of the dead fuel particle, with fuels less than ¼ in diameter reaching equilibrium with their surroundings within one-hour. Because of this rapid exchange rate, these smaller size class fuels exert significant control over wildfire burning characteristics, especially in the grass and shrub dominated fuels associated with the Planning Area.

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+ Live fuels. Live fuel moisture is the moisture in living, growing vegetation and is controlled by the internal physiological mechanisms of the vegetation and external influences such as rainfall, drought, aspect, elevation, and seasonal drying patterns. Typically, live fuel moistures are highest in the spring through early summer and at their lowest in late summer through early winter when seasonal rains typically begin.

Live fuel moisture of 60% or below is a “critical” threshold where live fuels display similar burning characteristics as dead fuels.

Live fuel moisture status can be tracked at https://fire.lacounty.gov/fire-weather-danger/, with the Santa Monica Mountains data most applicable to the Agoura Hills Planning Area. Figure 27 shows both current and historical live fuel moisture data for the Santa Monica Mountains live fuel moisture sampling stations.

Figure 27. Current and historical live fuel moisture data for the Santa Monica Mountains station Based on the 18-year historical weather data for the Remote Automated Weather Stations (RAWS), as described above, Fire Family Plus 5.0 was used to generate a suite of inputs to the fire behavior models for each ERC level (Table 3). Additionally, wind roses (Figure 28) were evaluated to determine the dominate wind direction. The bars of the wind rose represent the direction and speed from which the wind is blowing.

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Table 3. Fuel Moisture and Weather Outputs – Base Fire Scenario Weather Percentile 90% 97%
Energy Release Component 59% 68%
Burning Index 48% 55%
20-ft Windspeed Direction WSW WSW
20-ft Windspeed 15 mph 17 mph
Herbaceous Fuel Moisture 30% 30%
Woody Fuel Moisture 60% 60%
1 HR Fuel Moisture 3% 2%
10 HR Fuel Moisture 4% 3%
100 HR Fuel Moisture 8% 7%
1000 HR Fuel Moisture 30% 30%
Figure 28. Wind Rose for the City of Agoura Hills
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5.3.5 Fuel Types and Fuel Models
Fuels are categorized into specific fuel models (e.g., non-burnable, grass, grass-shrub, shrub, timberunderstory, timber-litter, and slash- blowdown), which describe the physical properties of the vegetation that support fire. Fuel models are grouped by fire-carrying fuel type and the number of fuel models within each fuel type varies. Each fuel type has been assigned a mnemonic two-letter code. + Non-burnable fuel models (NB). Land areas that are
considered non-burnable portions of the landscape are
displayed on a fuel model map as NB. Urban
development, barren land and water are all considered
unburnable in fire behavior models.
+ Grass (GR). The primary carrier of fire in the GR fuel models is grass. Grass fuels can vary from heavily
grazed grass stubble or sparse natural grass to dense
grass more than 6 feet tall. Fire behavior varies from moderate spread rate and low flame length in the sparse grass to extreme spread rate and flame length in the tall grass models. + Grass-Shrub (GS). The primary carrier of fire in the GS fuel models is grass and shrubs combined; both components are important in determining fire behavior. The effect of live herbaceous moisture content on spread rate and intensity is strong and depends on the relative amount of grass and shrub load in the fuel model.
+ Shrub (SH). The primary carrier of fire in the SH fuel models is live and dead shrub twigs and foliage in combination with dead and down shrub litter. A small amount of herbaceous fuel may be present, especially in SH1.
+ Timber-Understory (TU). The primary carrier of fire in the TU fuel models is forest litter in combination with herbaceous or shrub fuels. The effect of live herbaceous moisture content on spread rate and intensity is strong and depends on the relative amount of grass and shrub load in the fuel model. + Timber-Litter (TL). The primary carrier of fire in the TL fuel models is dead and down woody fuel. Live fuel, if present, has little effect on fire behavior.
+ Slash-Blowdown (SB). The primary carrier of fire in the SB fuel models is activity fuel or blow down.

Forested areas with heavy mortality may be modeled with SB fuel models.

Table 4 describes the fuel models found in the Planning Area and the amount of area designated as each fuel type. Note: For this analysis, the 2023 40 Scott and Burgan Fire Behavior Fuel Model from LANDFIRE has been used. See Figure 29 for a spatial distribution of the fuel models across the landscape.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Traditional wildfire
behavior models do not capture fire
spread into urban fuels and thus will show
as “unburnable”. However, we know that
fire can readily burn into the built
environment, particularly under conditions
of high wind and low relative humidity.

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Fuel Model Type Vegetation
Group Fuel Type Acres % Coverage
Non-burnable – Fuel models (NB1-
NB9)
Non-burnable 14,182 25.3%
Grass - Nearly pure grass and/or forb
types are represented by grass fuel
models (GR1- GR9)
Grassland/Forb 5,213 9.3%
Grass-Shrub – Up to about 50 percent
shrub coverage are represented by
grass shrub fuel models (GS1-GS4)
Grassland/Forb
Broadleaf Forest
and Woodland
19,884 35.5%
Shrubs – Cover at least 50 percent of
the site; grass sparse to non-existent
are represented by shrub fuel models
(SH1-SH9)
Chaparral 14,110 25.2%
Timber-Understory – Grass orshrubs
mixed with litter from forest canopy
are represented by timber understory
fuel models (TU1-TU5)
Conifer Forest
and Woodland
762 1.4%
Timber-Litter – Dead and down
woody fuel (litter) beneath a forest
canopy is represented by timber litter
fuel models (TL1-TL9)
Broadleaf Forest
and Woodland
Conifer Forest
and Woodland
1,807 3.2%
Total 55,958 100.0%
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5.3.6 Topography
Topography is the configuration of Earth’s surface and is the most stable of the elements in the fire environment.

Topography plays a significant role in wildland fire behavior by sheltering areas from the prevailing wind or by channeling wind through prominent canyons and drainages. Specific elements of topography that affect fire behavior include slope, aspect and elevation with the steepness of slope being the most influential. For the wildfire behavior modelling, topographic data was obtained from the LANDFIRE program As seen in Figure 30, three principal drainages bisect the City. From east to west, these drainages are Chesebro/Palo Comado, Medea Creek Canyon and Lindero Canyon. These drainages flow from the Simi Hills north of the City and have a general north to south orientation. It is this north/south orientation that serves to channel and intensify winds during Santa Ana weather events.

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Other than the orientation of these drainages, topography has a limited impact on large fire development in the Planning Area as drainage bottom-to-ridgetop distances are relatively short, preventing slope driven fires from developing sustained uphill fire runs. Generally, slopes are mild enough to allow for the use of mechanized equipment during fire suppression operations. Most slopes are less than 30%, with the exception of locations south of Highway 101 where slopes can exceed 80%.

Aspects within the Planning Area are divided along Highway 101, with areas to the north of the 101 having a south aspect, and slopes south of the 101, a north aspect. These aspects influence vegetation type, with south aspects supporting grass, grass-shrub dominate fuel types and north facing slopes displaying more chaparral and oak-woodland dominated fuel types.

5.4 WILDFIRE RISK ASSESSMENT ASSUMPTIONS

5.4.1 Overview
The key assumptions for the risk analysis of the WRA have been documented in the “Risk Assessment Methodology” technical memo issued on 11/15/2024. Refer to Appendix B for details.

The following sections provide an executive summary of those assumptions and any key updates since issuance of the technical memo. The risk analysis assumptions and input data fall into three (3) main categories:

1. Risk Scenario(s)
This map illustrates the general physical
features and elevation of the land surface
in and around the Planning Area. Three
(3) principal drainages bisect the City
flowing down from the Simi Hills to the
north – Chesebro/ Palo Comado, Medea
Creek Canyon and Lindero Canyon.

Other than the orientation of these
drainages, topography has a limited
impact on large fire development.
(Data source: LANDFIRE).

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2. Risk Analytical Boundary

3. Risk Formulation

5.4.2 Risk Scenario
The primary risk scenario developed for this CWRA is due to wildfires originating in surrounding landscapes, posing a threat to the City and its values/assets. The risk scenario was developed for the purpose of informing medium-to-long term wildfire risk mitigation decision making, planning and preparedness programs, policies and procedures (e.g., large-scale, multi-phase vegetation management programs, capital improvements, education and outreach). Note: The potential impact of changing climate is also considered a risk but has been addressed using a separate analysis presented in Section 4.6.

5.4.3 Risk Analytical Boundary
Unlike the analytical boundary for the fire hazard analysis, which assumes a 3-mile buffer around the City for the purpose of understanding the broader wildfire settings within which the City is situated, the CWRA analytical boundary only includes natural-, built- and human-environment assets and values within City boundaries.

5.4.4 Risk Formulation
To quantify the potential wildfire risks to the City, the CWRA is based on a combination of the following risk components (as schematically shown in Figure 31):
+ Hazard analysis – The potential characteristics of wildfire hazards in and around the City including location, severity and frequency of wildfires. Fire hazard is a function of both “fire severity” and “fire frequency”. o The “fire severity” component of the hazard analysis represents a combination of various fire behavior characteristics including flame length, max spotting distance, fuel loading, and PM10 emissions. As fire characteristics are a function of the environmental settings (i.e., fuel, topography and weather), they are independent of the ignition source.
o The “fire frequency” component of the hazard analysis represents a combination of simulated fire frequency and burn probability. Simulated fire frequency is the relative frequency that fire burns one areal unit of land compared to another areal unit based on historical fire starts from 1992 to 2022. Burn probability is the result of fire simulations of random ignitions across the landscape. + Exposure analysis – Identification, quantification and evaluation of a variety of values or assets that are at risk of being negatively impacted by potential wildfire hazards including people, property, critical infrastructure and facilities, natural resources, economic resources, health, etc. This is an overlay analysis, whereby the results of the hazard analysis are overlaid on top of the assets-at-risk. + Vulnerability analysis – Evaluation of the inherent susceptibility of people, properties and economic assets to suffer loss and/or damage. This may include socio-economic determinants, physical construction of buildings, spatial arrangements of neighborhoods, firefighting responses capacities and water supplies, etc.

For Scenario 1, these risk components are combined using the following general equation (See also Figure 31):

Key Assumption: The risk
scenario developed for this CWRA
is intended to address medium-tolong term wildfire risk mitigation decision-making, planning and
preparedness programs, policies
and procedures (e.g., large-scale,
multi-phase vegetation
management programs, capital
improvements, education and
outreach).

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(0.6 ∙ 𝐹𝐹𝐹𝐹𝐹𝐹𝐹𝐹 𝑆𝑆 𝑆𝑆 𝑆𝑆𝑆𝑆 + 0.4 ∙ 𝐹𝐹𝐹𝐹𝐹𝐹𝐹𝐹 𝐹𝐹𝐹𝐹𝐹𝐹𝐹𝐹𝐹𝐹𝐹𝐹𝐹𝐹𝐹𝐹 ) × (𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴 𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶 + 𝑉𝑉 𝑉𝑉 𝑉𝑉𝑉𝑉 𝑉𝑉 ) Where,
• Fire Severity – is a combination of various fire characteristics, as described above [Scale: 0-5] • Fire Frequency – is the simulated fire frequency plus burn probability, as described above. [Scale: 0-5] • Asset Count – is the density of values or assets at risk from fire exposure. [# of assets]. • Vulnerability – is an additional term(s) to account for the potential increase in damage or loss due to social or physical susceptibilities to wildfire impacts. [Scale: 1 – 2.5] Figure 31. Quantified Risk Assessment Formulation.

Hazard Components (“Fire Severity” and “Fire Frequency”) As seen in the generalized risk equation, there are two components describing the fire hazard: (1) fire severity and (2) fire frequency. The reason for combing these two components is to acknowledge that wildfire risk is not only a function of how severe a fire is, but also how frequently it occurs. In other words, some of the most concerning fires can be those that occur less often but are more severe (low frequency-high intensity), particularly if they occur near high value assets or in vulnerable areas. High frequency-low intensity fires (such as those that occur in grasslands), may occur more often but may tend to be low intensity and therefore more manageable from a firefighting perspective. Thus, the use of a 0.6 factor for the fire severity is to provide greater importance to how severe a fire is compared to how often it occurs.

Exposure Analysis – Assets at Risk
Assets at risk from wildfires are often defined in terms of human life, buildings, and critical infrastructure.

However, values can also include health, natural resources, sensitive habitats, cultural and historical resources, and other intangibles (e.g., social capital, community culture, livelihood).

For Scenario 1, the risk analysis considers multiple asset- or value-types such as critical infrastructure, critical facilities and buildings, and various assets/values within each category type (such as shown in Figure 32). Note:

The inclusion of these asset-types and assets also serves as a proxy for spatial location of people and communities at risk. Thus, people and community boundaries are not explicitly included.

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Exposure Analysis – Asset or Value Buffers
For Scenario 1, each asset is given a ¼ mile buffer to account for the physical dimension of the asset, and a “zone of influence” within which fire may have an impact on the asset. See Figure 33 for an example output.

Sensitivity analyses were also performed to evaluate smaller buffer sizes (i.e., 1/8 mi and 200 feet), as well as how assets were weighted (e.g., as a group of assets within an asset class or as individual assets).

Figure 33. Results of asset density analysis given baseline assumptions (i.e., assets are buffered based on their respective asset type; and a buffer of ¼ mile). Asset density in the City has limited variability.

Exposure Analysis – Asset or Value Ranking (“Weights”)
As Scenario 1 considers multiple asset- or value-types, a relative ranking of the importance of each value/asset type has been included based on input and agreement from the Stakeholder Working Group to acknowledge that some values/assets are considered to have more value than others. The weighting for each asset type is illustrated in Figure 34.

Critical Infrastructure
C: Communications
T: Transmission Lines
G: Gas Lines
R: Major Roads
Critical Facilities
F: Fire Stations
S: Schools
CF: City Facilities
Other Physical Assets
S: Structures / Buildings
Natural Assets
CP: California Protected Areas
PS: Parks and Open Spaces
Vulnerabilities:

SS: Structure Density
SF: Senior Facilities
Representative assets and available spatial data.

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Figure 34. Asset significance weighting
Vulnerability Analysis
In addition to exposure, some assets may be more susceptible to damage or loss to wildfires due to a variety of inherent physical, social or technical characteristics. Some examples of physical vulnerabilities include construction material, age of asset, structure spacing, etc. Catastrophic fires and research in recent decades have illustrated that more closely spaced homes/buildings can potentially be more vulnerable to structure-tostructure fire spread.10 Thus, the closer a structure is to other structures, the higher the weighing factor. The structure density weights ultimately range from 1.5 to 2.5 as shown above and in Figure 34.

Other forms of vulnerability that were evaluated included social determinants (e.g., age, income levels, access to transit) and coping capacities (e.g., response time coverage). These vulnerabilities, however, were considered qualitatively. See Section 6.2
10 FEMA (2023) Marshall Fire Mitigation Assessment Team: Decreasing Risk of Structure-to-Structure Fire Spread in a Wildfire Community Wildfire Risk Assessment City of Agoura Hills

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6.0 Wildfire Hazard and Risk Assessment Results
Based on the methodology and key assumptions described in Section 5.0, this section presents the results of wildfire hazard and risk assessment results.

6.1 WILDFIRE HAZARD ASSESSMENT RESULTS
The objective of the wildfire hazard assessment is to identify areas within the Planning Area that are prone to problematic fire conditions, and to use this as the basis for designing and prioritizing fuel treatments and other mitigation strategies as part of the CWPP process.

The Wildfire Hazard Assessment performed to support the CWRA and future development of the CWPP include:
(1) Fire History
(2) Ignition Density
(3) Fire Severity
(4) Simulated Fire Frequency
(5) Fire Flow Paths
(6) Flame Length
(7) Potential Crown Fire
For the purpose of this CWRA and future CWPP, three Fire Planning Units (FPUs) (A-C) were identified to allow interested parties at a more localized level to focus efforts on their specific subregion and community.

6.1.1 Fire History
Fire history provides a useful tool for fire prevention and preparedness as it can provide an understanding of fire frequency, fire season, fire behavior and characteristics, major sources of ignition and portions of the landscape that are the most vulnerable.

There is a significant recent history of large wildfires burning in and around the City. The most impactful of these was the 2018 Woolsey Fire, which damaged or destroyed approximately 2,007 structures, approximately 31 within the City limits (See Figure 36). While the Woolsey Fire directly impacted the city, multiple larger fires have burned in the general vicinity of the community including:
+ Kenneth Fire – January 2025, burned 1,052 acres northeast of the City in Calabasas. + Palisades Fire – January 2025, burned 23,707 acres southeast of the City in Pacific Palisades and Malibu. + Franklin Fire – December 2024, burned 4,087 acres south of the City in Malibu. + Hill Fire – November 2018, burned 4,310 acres east of Camarillo (burned concurrently with the 96,949-acre Woolsey Fire).
+ Springs Fire – May 2013, burned 23,676 acres east of Point Magu in Ventura County.

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Figure 35. Damaged/Destroyed structures during the 2018 Woolsey Fire.

Additional major wildfires that have occurred in and around the City include the 2005 Topanga Fire and the 1982 Dayton Canyon Fire. The majority of the largest and most recent wildfires have occurred around the city, encroaching from the northeast and northwest (See Figure 36).

Wildland fire ignitions do not generally start within Agoura Hills itself but rather spread towards the City from surrounding areas during time of elevated fire danger. All of the large wildfires cited above have burned under Santa Ana/offshore wind conditions, including the Springs Fire, which burned in May, a month not typically associated with Santa Ana weather events.

The majority of ignitions occur to the southeast, near Malibu Creek State Park. This can be seen in the “hot spot” or fire cluster map in Figure 37.

These large fires in and adjacent to the city have modified the vegetative structure surrounding Agoura Hills by burning much of the older, denser chaparral. While these plant communities are in the process of recovery from these wildfires, they mainly support less dense grass and grass-shrub fuel types. These fuels will burn rapidly under summer and fall fire weather conditions, however not at high intensities. This allows for both aerial- and ground-based firefighting operations to be more effective than in areas with more dense fuels.

Throughout Agoura Hills, there are many instances where non-native ornamental vegetation is used as landscaping. Often it is this ornamental vegetation that allows fire to impact a structure, either by providing a receptive fuel for embers or by providing a flammable connection from wildland fuels to a structure Community Wildfire Risk Assessment City of Agoura Hills

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6.1.2 Ignition Density
Ignition density has been evaluated for two functions within the Wildfire Risk Assessment:
+ Firstly, it is used as points from which fire spread simulations are run to determine fire severity and fire frequency for the Planning Area.
+ Secondly, ignition density provides insight into specific locations where fire prevention actions are needed to reduce the wildland fire threat to the community.

Historic ignition density was based on ignitions that occurred between 1992-2020 and is from the United States Forest Service’s Fire Program Analysis dataset11. See Figure 38.

Figure 38. Ignition history in and around the Planning Area from 1992 - 2020. Source: USFS.

As seen in the figure, the distribution of ignitions across the Planning Area shows that ignitions tend to cluster along travel routes, with US-101, Kanan Road and Las Virgenes Road having the greatest density of ignitions. The most potentially impactful ignition clusters to the city are those located along Chesebro Road, below the Calabasas landfill and along Las Virgenes Road. In these locations, if an ignition were to occur during a Santa Ana weather event, fire would be rapidly pushed into residential areas to the west and south.

Of less concern to the city are the ignition clusters south of the administrative boundary. Under normal southwest winds, burning conditions are typically within the ability of the local fire agencies to successfully suppress. Fire history indicates that no large fire has spread into Agoura Hills from the south. 11 Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 This map illustrates where fire
ignitions have occurred in and
around the Planning Area from
1992 through 2022. The data is
from the US Forest Service
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6.1.3 Fire Severity (“Hazard”)
Fire severity (“hazard”) is used to classify how intense a fire will burn under a variety of environmental conditions. Fire behavior is the product of the natural environment or the unique combination of topography, weather and fuels. Topography and weather are factors on which humans have little effect but, fuels can be altered through human intervention or natural processes such as fire (rapid) or decomposition (very slow).

Therefore, when assessing fire severity (“hazard”), the focus can be on fuels and the associated fire behavior and how severe those conditions may be. This can be determined by fire behavior characteristics such as rate of spread, flame length, fireline intensity, torching, crowning, spotting, fire persistence and resistance to control.

The fire hazard analysis conducted for the Planning Area represents a combination of four fire behavior and fire effects outputs merged into one representation to display the alignment of potential problematic areas on the landscape that would exhibit high severity fire. The four modeling outputs used to develop this analysis are:
+ Flame length + PM2.5 emissions
+ Spotting distance + Fuel loading
Each of the above layers are stratified into five rating classes (Low to Very High) then merged into a single display to identify areas on the landscape where the highest potential for hazardous fire conditions exists. This analysis is designed to: (1) Allow land managers to identify locations in the landscape where the greatest fire hazard exists, and (2) Prioritize locations where management action may reduce these hazards.

The hazard analysis does not consider the nexus of hazard to values at risk but only evaluates the landscape features and fire behavior modeling outputs that influence fire hazard.

Figure 39 displays the outcome of the fire hazard analysis, while Table 5 summarizes the hazard ratings for the 97th percentile weather conditions for the City and for the surrounding landscapes. Locations shown in red have the highest potential for high severity/hazard and indicate areas where fuel treatments would provide beneficial effects to reduce the potential impacts to high value resources and assets, while improving firefighter and public safety and enhance fire suppression efficiencies.

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Figure 39. Fire hazard ("severity") across the Planning Area. Fire severity includes flame length, spotting distance, PM2.5 emissions, fuel loading
Table 5. Fire hazard severity by % acres in the City and surrounding area for 97th% weather conditions Planning area NonburnableVery Low Low Moderate High Very High Entire Analytical Area 25% 2% 20% 20% 18% 14%
City of Agoura Hills 54% 1.6% 10% 9% 16% 10%

6.1.4 Simulated Fire Frequency
Simulated Fire Frequency (SFF) or “Fire Frequency” outputs were created using the Minimum Travel Time (MTT) module in FlamMap to understand where on the landscape wildfire has the greatest probability of spreading based on historic ignition locations within the Planning Area. SFF can also be used to identify where the pathways of fire spread are most rapid under a defined set of weather parameters, as well as help identify potential fuel reduction activities, that will assist in interrupting or altering the spread, direction, and/or intensity of fire entering the community.

To develop the SFF data layer, historic ignitions from 1992-2020 were used to simulate fire spread over a 12-hour active burn period assuming all ignitions in a single year are burning simultaneously. The resulting This map illustrates the
anticipated severity or
intensity of a fire, in the
event fire were to occur
in and around the
Planning Area. For the
CWRA, fire severity
consists of a combination
of fire behavior
characteristics – flame
length, max spotting
distance, fuel loading,
and PM 2.5 emissions.

This data layer has been
based on fire behavior
modelling given current
fuel loads, topography
and 97th percentile
weather conditions, and
is independent of any
specific ignition source.

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fire perimeters and flow paths are then over-laid to determine where fires occurred more frequently. Note:

These simulations assume no suppression activities. See Figure 40.

Figure 40. Simulated Fire Frequency (SFF) across the City and surrounding areas.

As seen in Figure 40, wildfire frequently flows through Las Virgenes/Chesebro/Palo Camado Canyons, Liberty Canyon, Kanan and Cornell Road south of Highway 101 and to a lesser degree Lindero Canyon.

This corresponds with historic wildfire corridors observed by LA County Fire Department. These locations all feature north/south oriented canyons which funnel and accelerate winds during Santa Ana weather events.

6.1.5 Fire Flow Paths
Fire Flow Paths are an output derived from the Simulated Fire Frequency analysis. These fire behavior outputs examine the intersection and concentration of where fires originating from different parts of the landscape would converge or intersect on the landscape. As part of the overarching risk assessment, documented fire locations for the time 1992 through 2020 were simulated and allowed to burn unsuppressed for a 24-hour period under 97th percentile fuel moisture conditions and a 17mph wind from the northeast. Flow paths from these simulations were compiled in GIS to determine locations along the corporate boundary of Agoura Hills where fires are most likely to impact the community.

The analysis indicates that the east side of the community, particularly in Chesebro and Liberty Canyons are highly prone to wildfire, while the locations west of Kanan Road and the west side of the city show fewer intersects with the modeled fires. This same analysis was used to show the potential impacts on major travel routes in the city, with results indicating that locations along Chesebro Road, Agoura Road and Liberty Canyon This map illustrates
the relative
frequency wildfires
have occurred in
and around the
Planning Area
based on
simulations of
historical incidents
over a 12-hour burn
period. Fire history
data (1992-2020)
was obtained from
the USFS.

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Road showing the greatest number of fire intersections. These major travel routes will be the principal evacuation routes for members of the community in the event of a significant wildfire. Figure 41 shows the flow path intersection with the road systems and the administrative boundary of the city.

Figure 41. Fire Flow Paths intersections of major roadways and Agoura Hills city boundary.

The fire flow path analysis focused on historic ignition locations and how fire spread impacts linear features like roads and boundary lines but additionally flow paths can also be used to see how a fire might spread into a community. To look at how a fire may impact certain locations within the City, three ignition points were selected north of Agoura Hills and allowed to burn unsuppressed for six hours under weather conditions like those that occurred in the 2025 Palisades Fire. The locations selected for these ignitions were, Chesebro Canyon, Palo Comado Canyon and Red Oak Elementary School near Lindero Canyon (Figure 42).

This map illustrates
major wildfire flow
paths for simulated
ignitions in Chesebro
Canyon. A wildfire
flow path is a major
route in which a fire
spreads due to wind,
terrain, or other
factors. Outputs were
captured for each
ignition location
based on a Minimum
Travel Time (MTT)
analysis. This map
demonstrates where
wildfire flow paths
are most likely to
cross Major Roads.

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Figure 42. Simulated fire flow paths with ignition points in Palo Comado Canyon (top left), near Red Oak School (top right), and Chesebro Canyon (bottom).

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Each simulation demonstrates how a fire burning during a Santa Ana weather event can spread into the core of the city and impact the built environment.

Note: These simulations likely underestimate fire spread within the community as flammable landscape vegetation and structure-to-structure fire spread is beyond the capabilities of current fire models. The flow paths indicate where community impacts are most anticipated under these burning conditions given these defined ignition points and weather conditions.

6.1.6 Flame Length
Flame length is the observable feature of wildland fire that is directly related to a fire’s intensity. Flame length can also be used as a proxy for fire hazard and is an easily relatable fire behavior characteristic to communicate fire hazard to the public. Flame length has also been correlated by fire scientists to the potential success of fire suppression operations. Generally, flame lengths less than 8 feet can be successfully attacked by ground-based firefighting resources (Table 6). The correlation between flame length and suppression success is also useful when designing fuel treatments to mitigate fire hazard, with fuel treatment prescriptions often targeting posttreatment conditions that produce flame lengths of 4-feet or less.

Table 6. Fire Behavior Characteristics and Suppression Capability Flame Lengths
(feet)
Fireline Intensity
(BTU/foot/Second) Interpretation
0-4 0-100 Fires can be generally attacked at the head or flanks by persons using hand tools. Handlines should hold the fire 4-8 100-500
Fires are too intense for direct attack at the head of the fire by persons with hand tools. Handlines cannot be relied upon to hold the fire. Equipment such as dozers, engines and retardant aircraft can be effective.
8-11 500-1,000
Fires may present serious control problems – torching out, crowning and spotting. Control efforts at the head of the fire will probably be ineffective.
11+ 1,000+ Crowning, spotting and major fire runs are common. Control efforts at the head of the fire are ineffective.

Highly influenced by windspeed, flame length can vary greatly within the same fuel types under different wind conditions. For this risk assessment, winds associated with 97th percentile weather conditions (17 mph) were evaluated. A tabular summary of the distribution of flame lengths across the Planning Area is shown in Table 7, while Figure 43 displays the spatial distribution of the modeled flame lengths across the landscape.

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Flame Length
97th percentile weather
Agoura Hills Surrounding Landscape
Non-burnable 54% 25%
0 – 4 feet 3% 5%
4 – 8 feet 16% 35%
8 – 11 feet 26% 29%
11+ feet 1.6% 5%
Figure 43. Modeled flame lengths across Agoura Hills.

6.1.7 Crown Fire
In addition to flame length, the type of predicted fire can provide a strong correlation to the potential for extreme fire behavior characteristics such as how fires spread (surface or crown). The type of predicted fire also governs the potential strategic and tactical operations alternatives by fire agencies during a wildfire. Examples could Flame Length is an
estimate of the mean
flame length (in feet)
for all potential fires
that may occur given
vegetative
conditions, fuel
moistures, and peak
winds. This metric is
often used as a proxy
for fire intensity.

Model inputs are
based on 97th and
90th percentile
conditions obtained
from 20 years of
weather records from
remote automated
weather stations
(RAWS) during the
core fire season.

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include the use of aircraft or the potential for indirect attack methods based on crown fire potential or fastmoving brush fires.

The following are fire types and how they can influence potential fire behavior:
+ Surface Fire – A surface fire burns in the surface fuel layer, which lies immediately above the ground fuels, but below the canopy. Surface fuels consist of needles, leaves, grass, dead and down branch wood, logs, shrubs, low brush, and short trees (<3 feet). Surface fire behavior varies widely depending on the nature of the surface fuel complex (vertical and horizontal arrangement). Surface fires are generally easier to contain than any type of crown fire.
+ Crown Fire – A crown fire burns in the elevated canopy fuels. Canopy fuels normally consumed in crown fires consist of the live and dead foliage, lichen, and very fine live and dead branch wood found in the forest canopy. Reducing the potential for crown fire is very important in reducing the risk of lofted fire brands that may threaten structures and the WUI. In addition, crown fires are defined as either “passive” or “active.” A passive crown fire (“torching”) is defined as the ignition of a single or small group of trees, but does not spread continuously through the canopy of the trees.

An active crown fire is where the entire fuel complex is involved in flame, but the initiation and spread of the crown fire is dependent on the heat released from surface fuel.

For the City of Agoura Hills, crown fire initiation and propagation are not considered an issue of great concern. Crown fires under the limits of the current fire models are associated with timber understory and timber litter fuel types only, with these fuel types representing only 4.6 percent of the overall Planning Area.

Where timber dominated fuel models exist on the landscape, the fuels are comprised of an oak dominated overstory, which is more resistant to crown fire initiation than conifer species.

The fuel structure in and around Agoura Hills will not allow for the development of an active crown fire.

Fire behavior modeling does indicate that passive crown fires have the potential to occur on 0.9% of the Planning Area and is mostly confined to extreme southeast portion of the analysis area within the Santa Monica Mountains.

While crown fire is not a landscape level issue for Agoura Hills, there are locations within the City where torching of individual trees used as landscaping near structures and along road systems can occur. This is particularly true where groups of pines, eucalyptus, cypress, or pepper trees occur.

A simple tool that property owners may use to evaluate if trees within their home ignitions zones have the potential to be ignited from a surface fire is the “Crown Fire Initiation” model, that uses the surface fire intensity, foliar moisture of the tree canopy, and the separation distance between the surface fuels and the lowest level of canopy of a tree to determine if torching is probable.

Fire behavior outputs from fire hazard assessment indicate that in urban environments adjacent to wildland fuels, flame lengths are generally 4-foot or less. By using a standard foliar moisture of 90-percent the simple crown fire initiation model indicates that there needs to be a canopy separation distance of 11 feet (red lines) to mitigate potential ignition of the tree canopy (Figure 44).

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6.2 COMMUNITY WILDFIRE RISK ASSESSMENT
In its simplest form, community wildfire risk is the likelihood of a fire and its potential consequences on the community. It includes:
(1) The identification of potential fire hazards and associated characteristics such as location, intensity, frequency and probability of fire.
(2) The analysis of exposure and vulnerability of physical, social, health, environmental and economic assets or values in the community; and
(3) The evaluation of the effectiveness of coping capacities in response to and recovery from potential wildfire impacts.

This provides a basic framework to not only identify potential risks but, more importantly, determine various strategic actions for individuals, communities, agencies and other stakeholders to better prepare for, mitigate, respond to and recover from future wildfire threats.

For the purposes of this CWRA, the community risk assessment is based on a combination of approaches – both quantitative and qualitative – to determine the nature and extent of wildfire risks across the Planning Area.

In addition to the quantified risk assessment in Section 6.2.1, various physical and social vulnerability analyses –neighborhood- and parcel-level vulnerabilities, community-level vulnerabilities, vulnerable populations – were conducted to help further inform overall risk and targeted mitigation actions.

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6.2.1 Quantitative Risk Assessment Results
To understand the potential wildfire risks across the Planning Area, a quantified risk assessment was performed as described in Section 5.4.4, where the governing risk equation is as follows:
(0.6 𝐹𝐹𝐹𝐹𝐹𝐹𝐹𝐹 𝑆𝑆 𝑆𝑆 𝑆𝑆𝑆𝑆) + (0.4 𝐹𝐹𝐹𝐹𝐹𝐹𝐹𝐹 𝐹𝐹𝐹𝐹𝐹𝐹𝐹𝐹𝐹𝐹𝐹𝐹𝐹𝐹 ) × (𝐸𝐸𝐸𝐸𝐸𝐸 + 𝑉𝑉 𝑉𝑉 𝑉𝑉𝑉𝑉 𝑉𝑉 ) As previously discussed, the hazard component of the risk equation is comprised of two parts: (1) Fire severity and (2) Fire Frequency. See Sections 6.1.3 and 6.1.4 for detailed discussions regarding these two individual components. Figure 45 shows the combined Fire Severity and Fire Frequency components of the risk equation and provides an indication of where higher intensity-higher frequency fires are more likely across the Planning Area. As seen in the figure, Liberty Canyon has the highest relative likelihood of problematic fires.

Figure 45. Combined hazard (0.6 fire severity + 0.4 frequency) across the City.

As wildfire risk is not just a function of the fire itself, but also whether there are community values at risk, the general risk equation also includes a component for “assets” and “vulnerability.” For this CWRA, three (3) different measures of risk were evaluated to better understand different aspects of risk. These are as follows:
(1) Risk to All Assets (“Comprehensive Risk”)
(2) Risk to Natural Resources
(3) Risk to Economic Resources
Combined fire hazard
is the combination of
fire frequency and
fire severity, which
provides a relative
indication of where
higher intensity fires
are more likely to
occur. The data in
this layer is based on
97th percentile wind
and weather
conditions, and
vegetative coverage.

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As each of the three (3) measures evaluates risk from a different perspective, the types of assets or values, and the vulnerabilities included in each analysis are specific to that perspective. For example, risk to economic resources includes buildings and structures, as equally weighted assets, that provide the City with economic value. Note: The economic risk map assumes that all structures have equivalent financial value. Therefore, higher economic risk areas will skew the results to where there is a higher density of structures in combination with higher fire intensity. Comprehensive risk captures all assets, but is generally more weighted to reflect risk to people, property and infrastructure, particularly as these assets are also where populations are likely to reside.

Refer to Figure 46, for all three risk maps for the Planning Area. Risk is displayed from green to dark red, with dark red indicating areas of higher risk. “Non-burnable” regions (i.e., urban areas and water) are also indicated on the risk maps. Note: Current wildfire models do not have an urban fuel model. This does not mean urban areas cannot burn; it just means that fire science has yet to credibly define urban fuel burn characteristics.

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These maps illustrate relative wildfire risk across the Planning Area from three different perspectives: (1) Comprehensive Risk including structures, vulnerabilities, critical infrastructure and natural resources, (2) Risk to natural resources, (3) Risk to individual economic resources. Comprehensive risk captures the relative risk of wildfire to all community assets, which tends to skew risk to property and infrastructure, particularly as these assets are also where populations are likely to reside. Natural resources risk reflects the relative risk of fire impacting natural assets across the City. Economic risk reflects the relative risk of fire impacting economic resources, where each structure is assumed to provide equivalent economic value. Given this assumption, the results skew economic risk to areas with a higher concentration of structures (e.g., denser neighborhoods).

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As seen in the comprehensive risk map in Figure 46, very high risk zones are concentrated in the region of Liberty Canyon. Additionally, much of the City is also considered to be at a moderate to high risk due to the density of assets and high potential fire severity across the city. Peacock Ridge ranges around moderate to high fire risk, as does Morrison Ranch and Fountainwood. Morrison Ranch, however, has more area under the high hazard classification and Fountainwood has more area under the urban or non-burnable classification. Chateau Creek, Hillrise, Annandale and Old Agoura all contain larger areas of both high fire hazard and urban or nonburnable zones. Lake Lindero is primarily of the non-burnable and urban classification.

IMPORTANT NOTE: “Non-burnable” regions (i.e., urban areas, agriculture, water and barren lands) in the following risk maps are not truly “non-burnable” with exception of the water features. The “non-burnable” areas are only a limitation of the wildfire behavior models, which currently do not have fuel models for these land-type uses. This does not mean they cannot burn. It just means that fire science has yet to develop credible burn models to describe the fire characteristics (e.g., flame length, rate of spread) through these spaces. That said, these areas can be considered to have a lower likelihood of burning as a wildland fire. In some cases, for the urban areas, these are no longer wildland fuels, but urban fuels.

6.2.2 Vulnerabilities

6.2.2.1 Observations of Neighborhood-Level Vulnerabilities While earlier research focused on the home ignition zone as providing the primary sources of structure vulnerability (e.g., construction materials, home hardening and defensible space features immediately around the home), current research and technical guidance also highlights the significance of landscape level features and neighborhood designs on influencing structure vulnerability to wildfires. That is, a structure’s vulnerability is determined by a complex interaction of vulnerabilities at different scales – building, parcel, neighborhood, and community.

During the site and based on some of the wildfire modelling, many neighborhoods across the City are vulnerable to one or combination of neighborhood- or community-level vulnerabilities, including:
(1) Limited access/egress routes
(2) Proximity to large, uninterrupted wildland vegetation or poorly maintained open spaces (3) Proximity to north-south trending drainage pathways (e.g., Chesebro, Palo Comado, Lindero Canyons) (4) Proximity to integrated greenbelts into the built environment (e.g., Medea Creek) (5) Proximity to older, non-WUI code compliant neighborhoods See Figure 47 for examples of neighborhood- and community-level vulnerabilities observed across the City.

In addition to some of these high hazard neighborhoods, even communities that are more remote from large areas of continuous vegetation are still vulnerable to wildfires due to embers that can be carried large distances from the fire front, landing and igniting receptive fuel beds on and immediately surrounding a structure, as seen during the 2018 Woosley. Fire receptive fuel beds can include ornamental landscaping, dead vegetation, litter, debris built up in rain gutters, and mulch beds. Enclaves, islands, and riparian corridors of wildland vegetation and ornamental vegetation are also found within neighborhoods and interspersed with structures throughout communities. These create significant opportunities for wildfires to ignite and destroy structures.

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Limited access/egress routes
Example greenbelt, drainage
(Medea Creek)
Overgrown, narrow egress route
Large, uninterrupted
open space
Large, uninterrupted, steep, wildland Proximity to drainage and large, uninterrupted open space
High-hazard fuels in common space
Figure 47. Observed neighborhood- and community-level vulnerabilities Large, uninterrupted open space
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6.2.2.2 Observations of Parcel-Level Vulnerabilities
In addition to community-scale vulnerabilities, several neighborhoods were observed to have parcel-level vulnerabilities throughout Agoura Hills. Homes and other structure types had varying degrees of vulnerability to wildfire, including:
+ Defensible space is the space around a
structure that, under normal conditions, creates
a sufficient buffer to modify or arrest the spread
of a wildfire to a structure. Flammable
landscaping and other combustible items, such
as firewood or debris piled near a structure,
pose an ignition threat. Structures are more
susceptible to ignition when exposed to
significant radiant and convective heat from
burning material. Several neighborhoods,
particularly older communities (e.g. Old Agoura),
across the City have significant overgrown
vegetation, high hazard plants/trees or
combustible man-made fuels (e.g., trash bins,
storage sheds) proximate to the home. See
Figure 48.
+ Vents – Vents in eaves, attics or crawl spaces
are an easy entry point for embers to penetrate
the interior of a structure, particularly vents
located in the underside of soffits. Where
embers enter attic spaces, fires in can go easily
undetected from the outside, as attics typically
do not have smoke detection or sprinkler
protection. In past fires, structures have been
lost when fire personnel have left the scene
unaware that a fire has ignited in the attic. The
majority of homes across the City have limited
vent protection (e.g.,1/8” or 1/16” non-corrosive
metal mesh or a listed ember resistant vent
system) against embers during a wildfire.
+ Wood Fences – Wood fences act as a fuel
source and also as a fire pathway carrying fire to
a structure. Wooden fences connecting adjacent
homes present a major threat. If ignited, these
fences can act as “wicks” that contribute to fire
spread from home to home (Figure 49). Wood
and other combustible fences surrounding and
connecting homes was observed in multiple neighborhoods across the City. + Siding – Combustible siding can provide a pathway for flames to reach vulnerable portions of a structure, such as eaves or windows. Siding is especially vulnerable when combustible materials (e.g., vegetation, wooden decks and fences, stacked firewood) are near a structure’s siding and can provide a heat source to Figure 48: Overgrown vegetation in Zone 0 and 1
proximate to the exterior of the home. This
introduces several paths for fire to spread and
encroach the home.

Figure 49: Wooden fences and vegetation near
and between homes can act as a “wick” that
contributes to fire spread.

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ignite siding. Most homes in Agoura Hills appeared to have stucco siding or other ignition-resistant material.

However, in some older neighborhoods (e.g., Lake Lindero area) combustible siding is still present. + Roofing – Roof construction and maintenance is a key
factor influencing structure loss in wildfire. Vulnerability is not just related to roofing material, but also design, construction details, condition, and whether the roof is clear of combustible material (e.g., pine needles and
other debris). The majority of the homes in Agoura have Class A roof systems. However, some homes have
complex roof designs (e.g. Figure 50) that create
multiple ledges, valleys and other features where
vegetative debris and embers have a higher likelihood
of collecting, leading to ignition along gaps at the
various roof joints.
+ Garages – Gaps at the top, bottom and edges of
garage doors allow embers to enter a home. Garages
often contain combustible materials or flammable
liquids that a highly susceptible to ignition and
challenging fires. Garages typically also have vents
along the façade to provide venting for a variety of
purposes (e.g., gas furnace or hot water heaters,
natural ventilation, clothing dryer). These vents can
provide easy entry points for embers, as most garage vents are unscreened or have large openings (e.g., greater than 1/8” openings). Similar to other vents, protection is garage vents is likely deficient across the City.
+ Nooks and Crannies – Grooves, inside corners, and roof valleys are areas where flammable debris (e.g., leaf litter, bird nests) collect over time. Embers can land on this debris, leading to ignition. These areas can also accumulate a large number of embers, which increases the likelihood of ignition of combustible concealed spaces just behind the exterior façade, roof covering or similar outer building material. Many homes in Agoura Hills have tiled roofs. Tiled roofs tend to have gaps at the roof edge underneath the tiles, which if left unprotected, can allow flammable debris to collect. + Windows – Single pane windows can be a major vulnerability during a major fire. Single pane windows can oftentimes break due to impact by airborne materials or crack and fallout due to thermal exposure to intense heat. This can create large entry points into the structure allowing flames, hot gases and embers to penetrate the home, igniting interior combustible materials. The majority of homes in Agoura have doublepaned windows.

Wildfire will continue to threaten Agoura Hills. However, residents and homeowners can and should take proactive measures to mitigate this threat. Current land use planning, zoning regulations, and codes adopted by the State of California and local fire departments provide the regulatory basis for preparedness, but these alone will not protect life safety and other community values.

6.2.2.3 Community-Level Vulnerabilities
Community-level vulnerability refers to the resilience of various built environment characteristics to wildfire threats over both the short and long-term. While there are numerous values in the natural, built and human Figure 50: Example of a complex roof,
which introduces several locations where
flammable debris and embers can gather.

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environments that may be exposed to the same wildfire, how much loss or damage is experienced by those values can vary dramatically depending on the inherent physical resiliency of those assets to wildfire – individually or as a collective. Some examples of physical vulnerability include age of construction, code compliant structural hardening and defensible space, limited access/egress routes, and structure separation distances. Community-level vulnerabilities may also include coping capacities of the community (e.g., the availability of resources to effectively respond to or recover from a wildfire threat). Some coping capacity proxies may include fire service response times, firefighting water supplies, emergency power supplies, communication dead zones, etc. Note: As vulnerability assessments are often limited by the availability, quality and scale of the datasets, the corresponding analyses has been governed by these limitations.

For the CWRA, fire service response time coverage has been evaluated as a proxy for wildfire coping capacities across the City. See Figure 51.

Figure 51: Fire Department response time coverage across the City.

As seen in Figure 51, the majority of the city has a very good fire department response time with expected arrival times of less than 4 min to the nearest fire station. The northern portion of Old Agoura and the southern portion of Liberty canyon have slightly higher response times, primarily between 4 and 6 min, reaching between 6 and 8 minutes in few places.

This map illustrates the
response time coverage for
fire departments to reach
every neighborhood from
the nearest fire station in
the region. This includes
Station 36 and Station 125,
not shown on the map. Per
NFPA 1710, a response
time of 4-6 min to arrive on
scene is considered as the
standard benchmark
objective.

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6.2.2.4 Social Vulnerabilities
While many people might be exposed to the same wildfire, differences in demographic and socioeconomic characteristics can result in very different short and long-term impacts. Vulnerable or functional needs populations may have limited capacities to prepare for, respond to, and recover from a wildfire incident. These individuals are also less likely to be involved in wildfire mitigation activities (Ojerio, 2008). As a proxy for individual-level vulnerability data, key demographic and population statistics for Agoura Hills from the 2020 U.S.

Census and 2023 American Community Survey (U.S. Census Bureau, http://data.census.gov) were assessed to identify potential vulnerable populations:
+ Population: 19,429
+ Housing Units: 7,585
+ Average population density: ~2,500 people/square mile + Racial makeup: 68.7% White (non-Hispanic), 15.3% Hispanic or Latino, 0.8% Black or African American, 7.9% Asian, 0.1% American Indian or Alaska Native, 0.1% Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander, 10.2% Other/Two or More Races
+ Language other than English spoken at home: 20.1% of the population
+ Disabilities: 4.9% of the population
+ Vulnerable age groups: 3.4% of the population under 5 years,

16.0% 65 years and older
+ Poverty: 5.7% of the population live below the federal poverty level These characteristics may influence people’s ability to plan and prepare in advance of a wildfire, respond quickly and independently during a wildfire, and recover following a wildfire. For example, older individuals are likely to have difficulty undertaking defensible space maintenance around their properties and may also need assistance evacuating. Those with limited English proficiency may need emergency communications, as well as information about wildfire preparedness, shared in a language other than English. Limited access to financial resources may hinder the ability of lower-income populations to invest in emergency preparedness and mitigation measures, as well as to recover from losses. Other characteristics, and combinations of different characteristics, impact social vulnerability in different ways. Planning for vulnerable or functional needs populations is critical to providing a holistic wildfire mitigation preparedness plan that works for the entire community.

Understanding where vulnerable populations are geographically is important for targeting outreach and interventions to reduce impacts. A small sample of the many attributes that contribute to social vulnerability was explored as part of the CWRA. The number of households with at least one member aged 65 or over was found to have the greatest spatial variation (Figure 52). These individuals are more likely to have greater challenges with all aspects of wildfire preparedness and areas with a greater proportion of these vulnerable populations may need additional resources. This is simply a starting point for understanding how social vulnerability varies across Agoura Hills and should be combined with other, more locally specific, information.

Vulnerable or functional needs
populations include those who
are physically and/or mentally
disabled (e.g., blind, cognitive
disorders, limited mobility),
limited or non-English speaking,
culturally isolated, medically or
chemically dependent, homeless,
Deaf or hard-of-hearing, of
vulnerable ages (e.g., elderly or
young), or lack digital services.

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Figure 52: Percent of households in each census block group with at least one member aged 65 or over As shown in Figure 52, Old Agoura and the northeastern parts of Agoura Hills have the highest proportion of older residents, with up to 80% of households having at least one member aged 65 or over. Some households east of Fountainwood adjacent to Kanan Rd also have, on average, over 50% of households with at least one older member.

6.2.3 Community Input on Hazards and Risks
As part of the CWRA process, three forms of community outreach were used to understand the experiences, perceptions and concerns of local residents, agencies, organizations, and other interested parties to past and future wildland fire threats in and around Agoura Hills. The forms of community outreach included:
+ Public survey
+ Public workshops
+ Digital polling
A summary of the feedback is provided in the following sections. See Appendix C and Appendix E for additional details.

This map illustrates the
percent of households in
and around the Planning
Area with at least one
member aged 65 or over.

Households and
neighborhoods with a
larger elderly population
may be more vulnerable
during a wildfire. Data was
obtained from the U.S.

Census is shown at the
Census Block Group
scale.

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6.2.3.1 Feedback from the General Public
As described in Section 3.2.5.1, a public survey was administered to gather feedback on wildfire-related concerns, past experiences and recommendations for mitigations to future wildfire threats. Approximately 371 households responded to the survey.

The following are common themes that arose from the survey:
+ Major wildfire concerns:
o Insurance availability and cost
o Home hardening – cost and enforcement
o Vegetation management, including HOAs – cost and enforcement o Evacuation, including power outages and signal traffic outages + Suggested opportunities and strategies to increase public education and awareness:
o Community workshops with greater advertising and webinar formats o Providing information on proper materials and contractors for home hardening o Door-to-door campaigns and tabling at public events

6.2.3.2 Public workshops
As described in Section 3.2.5.2, two (2) public workshops were held during the CWRA development process (May and July 2025). Attendees represented various agencies, organizations, interested parties and general public across the City.

NOTE: This section will be updated after the second workshop in July.

The following are common themes that arose from workshops:
+ Major wildfire concerns:
o Evacuation routes & emergency communication
o Community education on mitigation efforts & egress routes o Costs of home hardening
+ Most important assets within the City:
o Human life & community cooperation
o Property
o City parks & natural environment and animals

6.2.3.3 Digital Polling – Broader Community Stakeholders As described Section 3.2.4, a broader stakeholder digital poll was administered from March 3 – 31, 2025.

Approximately 13 representatives of fire agencies, fire safe councils, land managers, utilities and other community groups responded to the digital poll.

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The following are common themes that arose from the digital polling:
+ Major wildfire concerns:
o Availability of funding to pursue WUI-related projects o Inter-agency coordination during a wildfire
o Feasibility and enforcement of defensible space measures o Egress and evacuation challenges (e.g., notifications, evacuation planning, vulnerable populations) + Suggested opportunities and strategies to increase wildfire resiliency:
o Provide more guidance information for evacuations
o Increase community education initiatives

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7.0 Recommendations
This chapter provides a set of preliminary recommendations for the City of Agoura Hills as a result of the CWRA. These recommendations are intended to provide the City and associated partners a variety of mitigation actions to help inform potential future policies, programs, analysis and/or projects. The mitigations are organized into 10 thematic categories (in no particular priority order):

A. Codes and Enforcement
B. Fuels Mitigation
C. Property Protection (Defensible Space)
D. Property Protection (Home Hardening)
E. Wildfire Resiliency of Critical Infrastructure
F. Public Notification and Communication
G. Evacuation Planning and Preparedness
H. Public Education and Awareness
I. Community and Regional Partnerships, Collaboration and Coordination
J. Emergency Response
This set of recommendations will be expanded as part of the CWPP development process.

Table 8. Recommended Actions.

Objective Number Action
A. Codes and Enforcement
Keep local codes, standards, and guidance
documents up to date with the latest developments
in wildfire resiliency best practice and research
CW-1 Develop a public education outreach plan to increase awareness on maintaining defensible space in accordance with Los Angeles County Fire Code Section 325.2.1, California Public Resources Code 4291, and local ordinances.

Education should include information on Zone 0 or “emberresistant zone” (0-5 feet from a structure) in accordance with AB-3074 for both new and existing conditions. This includes providing updates on upcoming and/or new code changes.

B. Fuels Mitigation
Manage landscape vegetation to promote the return
of fire resilient species and lower vegetation
densities.

CW-2
Undertake a study to identify and provide
recommendations for mitigating common ignition sources
across the City. This will include common sources of ignition in both the public and private sectors and developing
strategies for reducing the number and frequency of ignitions.

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CW-3 Coordinate with MRCA and NPS on mechanical fuel
treatments adjacent to the city, particularly in Palo Comado, Chesebro Canyon, and the 101 Freeway Corridor.

CW-4 Seek funding to develop a community chipper program that focuses on neighborhoods east of Kanan Road and south of Hwy-101.

CW-5 Work with LACo Fire, NPS and MRCA to identify
opportunities to implement grazing of herbaceous fuels, particularly in Palo Comodo/Chesebro and Liberty Canyons.

Grazing was a historic land use practice in the Agoura Hills vicinity.

CW-6 Work with LACo Fire and NPS to identify and maintain strategic fuel breaks that were developed during the
Woolsey Fire. Consider using the fire suppression repair map to identify these locations.

CW-7 Work with LACo Fire, NPS, MCRA and State Parks to
identify opportunities to use prescribed fire to treat nonnative invasive species. This provides a resource benefit while also breaking up fuel continuity adjacent to the city.

CW-8 Evaluate city-managed open spaces and parks to ensure that vegetation is maintained in a state of low fire
flammability. Focus on the elimination of down woody surface fuels. Priority location – Medea Creek Park
C. Property Protection (Defensible Space) CW-9 Seek grant funding to support homeowners wishing to remove hazardous trees species (cypress, pines,
eucalyptus) within their defensible space zones.

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Objective Number Action
Improve fuel treatment strategies for defensible
space around structures
CW-10 Work with LACo Fire to ensure that weed abatement and defensible space inspections are conducted and
enforced.

CW-11 Leverage the work of local FSCs to inspect and educate properties owners on defensible space requirements.

Focus on the development of the ember-resistant zone at structures.

CW-12 Develop and post signage along primary travel routes to higher risk neighborhoods identifying compliance dates
for fire hazard reduction work. Provide contact information for residents who wish to request support to better understand defensible space requirements and maintenance.

CW-13 Develop a list of city-vetted vendors who can provide services for properties owners requiring assistance with developing and maintaining their defensible space.

CW-14 Leverage existing databases (e.g., Agoura Hills Fire Safe Council database) to create a new spatial database of
HOAs/ Firewise USA neighborhoods that have responsibility for the maintenance of defensible space. Map treated
areas.

CW-15
Provide community workshops, informational videos,
demonstration landscapes and other educational methods to increase the general public’s understanding of best practices around fire-resistant and drought-resistant plant species, and best practices for landscaping and maintenance.

CW-16
Investigate opportunities where HOAs can expand
ongoing defensible space actions beyond 200’ onto lands managed by the City or Los Angeles County. Evaluate using LACo Fire hand crews for labor to control costs.

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Information should include defensible space and home
hardening standards to assist homeowners with implementing firesafe practices as well as meeting or exceeding
requirements of State, County and Local codes and
ordinances. A mix of web-based and in-person formats should be utilized in order to reach all critical audiences.

CW-18 Explore funding opportunities to aid property owners in retrofitting existing structures to current WUI building construction standards. Prioritize providing financial resources, physical assistance, and other support to vulnerable
populations (e.g., elderly, fixed-income, low-income). Develop clear program guidelines, criteria, and management strategies.

There should be a focus on clarifying to residents what level of work/upgrades triggers certain requirements.

CW-19 Consider creating a website that directs homeowners to various home hardening resources:
• Home hardening products (e.g., CALFIRE WUI
products)
• Suppliers and hardware stores
• Design professionals and contractors
• Shared resource programs, such as a tool lending
library.
• Existing incentives
• Insurance carrier discounts
CW-20 Work with the insurance industry and California Insurance Commissioner’s office to recognize risk reduction efforts at landscape, parcel and neighborhood-scales in insurance
coverage, premiums, and deductibles. Coordinate and
collaborate with county, regional, and local stakeholders, subject matter experts, and academics to systematically Community Wildfire Risk Assessment City of Agoura Hills

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CW-21
Consider developing (and updating over time) a parcel- and neighborhood-level WUI risk assessments.

E. Wildfire Resiliency of Critical Infrastructure CW-22 Work to develop agreements with agencies, HOAs, and private landowners to establish and maintain fuel treatments along major routes and roadways, with a primary focus on access/egress-constrained communities and communities with vulnerable populations.

CW-23
Conduct a study to evaluate the wildfire resiliency of
critical infrastructure and facilities across the City (e.g., water infrastructure, communications systems). Prioritize and implement resiliency improvements. Coordinate and
collaborate with relevant fire, law enforcement, government, private sector, and other subject matter experts to ensure programs, policies and systems are evaluated, designed, and maintained for quality, fire resistance, durability, functionality, efficiency, and sustainability.

F. Public Notification and Communication CW-24 Work with providers to coordinate efforts on analyzing, monitoring, and maintaining enhancements and
redundancies to current emergency communication
systems such as generator backups, increased cellular
coverage via traditional cell towers, repeaters, and other technologies to improve communications.

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Objective Number Action
CW-25 Work with emergency responders and other government agencies in and around the City to conduct a review and alignment of current public emergency communication
systems and messaging policies, protocols, and
procedures. This would include evaluation of the range of target audiences (e.g., residents, visitors, limited English proficiency, elderly, secondary homeowners), with the intent of providing more reliable, timely, informative, and consistent information during/after a major wildfire incident. This may also include the need for training/drills and evaluation/adoption of newly available technologies.

G. Evacuation Planning and Preparedness CW-26 Post on the city website and advertise at local events the LACo Fire-identified evacuation zones in order to increase public awareness. Consider posting evacuation zone
identification signage along primary travel routes.

CW-27 Develop a strategy for assessing wildfire evacuation vulnerability which may include quantifying evacuation
capacities, surveying residents and stakeholders, and
identifying and prioritizing improvements to ensure life safety of the public and emergency responders in the event of a major wildfire in or around the City.

CW-28 Identify specific areas and neighborhoods where
secondary means of egress are needed to increase
evacuation capacity and access for first responders in a wildfire. Where possible, work towards developing and
maintaining secondary egress routes for constrained
neighborhoods. Identify other strategies as appropriate (e.g., policies to open locked gates).

H. Public Education and Awareness CW-29 Establish improved communications with Homeowners Associations concerning wildfire mitigation actions – home Community Wildfire Risk Assessment City of Agoura Hills

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A challenge for all communities is how to generate
interest and maximize awareness of the wildfire
threat and encourage participation in preparing for a
wildfire at an individual and community level. Public
education is critical to community preparedness and
citizens need to know where to obtain accurate
information before, during and after an event
occurs.
hardening, defensible space, and maintenance of any
common areas within their jurisdiction.

CW-30 Ensure public education and communication materials on wildfire preparedness, planning and response are
generally accessible.

This may include translation into different languages, commonlanguage descriptions, ADA compliance, and conversion into different formats.

I. Community and Regional Partnerships,
Collaboration and Coordination
CW-31 Encourage, promote, and assist grassroots, community wildfire mitigation and preparedness organizations such as Fire Safe Councils, Firewise Communities, radio groups, non-profits, etc.

Support may include marketing, outreach, recruitment efforts, GIS support, and others. Help various organizations provide consistent communications, tools, and outreach.

J. Emergency Response CW-32 Consider the development and implementation of a parking restriction ordinance for Red-Flag warning days to ensure that emergency equipment can access smaller road systems. Focus on neighborhoods south of I-101 as a priority location.

CW-33 Develop standardized signage that identifies residences with static water sources that can be used during
suppression operations should the pressurized system fail.

Provide signage free to residents willing to install the identification.

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8.0 References
Abatzoglou, J.T. and Williams, A.P., 2016. Impact of anthropogenic climate change on wildfire across western US forests. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 113(42), pp.11770-11775.

Goss, M., Swain, D.L., Abatzoglou, J.T., Sarhadi, A., Kolden, C.A., Williams, A.P. and Diffenbaugh, N.S., 2020.

Climate change is increasing the likelihood of extreme autumn wildfire conditions across California. Environmental Research Letters, 15(9), p.094016.

Ojerio, R.S., 2008. Equity in Wildfire Risk Management: Does Socioeconomic Status Predict Involvement in Federal Programs to Mitigate Wildfire Risk? (Doctoral dissertation, Department of Planning, Public Policy & Management, University of Oregon).

Rolinski, T., Capps, S.B., Fovell, R.G., Cao, Y., D’Agostino, B.J. and Vanderburg, S., 2016. The Santa Ana wildfire threat index: Methodology and operational implementation. Weather and Forecasting, 31(6), pp.1881-1897.

Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013- 0009.6
Williams, A.P., Gentine, P., Moritz, M.A., Roberts, D.A. and Abatzoglou, J.T., 2018. Effect of reduced summer cloud shading on evaporative demand and wildfire in coastal southern California. Geophysical Research Letters, 45(11), pp.5653-5662.

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Appendices Table of Contents
APPENDIX A GLOSSARY OF TERMS........................................................................................................ A-1 APPENDIX B RISK ASSESSMENT METHODOLOGY TECHNICAL MEMO.............................................. B-1 APPENDIX C PUBLIC SURVEY RESULTS................................................................................................. C-1 APPENDIX D BROADER STAKEHOLDER SURVEY RESULTS................................................................ D-1 APPENDIX E PUBLIC WORKSHOPS.......................................................................................................... E-1 Community Wildfire Risk Assessment City of Agoura Hills Page A-1 | September 2025 | Final Rev. 0 Copyright ©2025 Jensen Hughes, Inc.

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Appendix A Glossary of Terms
The following provides terms or words found in or relating to this plan (additional terms are available at http://www.nwcg.gov/glossary):
+ 1-Hour Timelag Fuels (a.k.a., one-hour fuels): Fuels consisting of dead herbaceous plants and roundwood less than about ¼ inch (6.4 mm) in diameter. Also included is the uppermost layer of needles or leaves on the forest floor.
+ 10-Hour Timelag Fuels (a.k.a. ten-hour fuels): Dead fuels consisting of roundwood ¼ to l inch (0.6 to 2.5 cm) in diameter and, very roughly, the layer of litter extending from immediately below the surface to ¾ inch (1.9 cm) below the surface.
+ 100-Hour Timelag Fuels (a.k.a., hundred-hour fuels): Dead fuels consisting of roundwood in the size range of 1 to 3 inches (2.5 to 7.6 cm) in diameter and very roughly the layer of litter extending from approximately ¾ of an inch (1.9 cm) to 4 inches (10 cm) below the surface. + 1,000-Hour Timelag Fuels (a.k.a., thousand-hour fuels): Dead fuels consisting of roundwood 3 to 8 inches in diameter and the layer of the forest floor more than 4 inches below the surface. + Active Crown Fire: A fire in which a solid flame develops in the crowns of trees, but the surface and crown phases advance as a linked unit dependent on each other. + Aspect: Direction a slope faces.
+ Canopy Spacing: The distance from the edge of one tree canopy to another. Crown spacing varies from open (with 10 feet or more of space between tree canopies) to closed (where trees may be growing in very close proximity with little space between them).
+ Crown Fire: A fire that advances from top to top of trees or shrubs more or less independent of a surface fire. Crown fires are sometimes classed as running or dependent to distinguish the degree of independence from the surface fire.
+ Dead Fuels: Fuels with no living tissue in which moisture content is governed almost entirely by atmospheric moisture (relative humidity and precipitation), dry-bulb temperature, and solar radiation. + Direct Attack: A method of fire suppression where actions are taken directly along the fire’s edge. In a direct attack, burning fuel is treated directly, by wetting, smothering, or chemically quenching the fire or by physically separating burning from unburned fuel.
+ Fire Apparatus Access Roads - The means for emergency apparatus to access a facility or structure for emergency purposes. Roadways must extend to within 150 feet of all portions of the exterior of the first floor of any structure and must meet specified criteria for width, pavement characteristics, roadway gradient, turning radius, etc. Fire apparatus access roads are also referred to as fire lanes. + Fire Behavior: The manner in which a fire reacts to the influences of fuel, weather, and topography. + Fire Frequency: Temporal fire occurrence described as a number of fires occurring within a defined area within a given time period.
+ Fire Intensity: A general term relating to the heat energy released by a fire.

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+ Fire Lane Identification - Signs or curb markings that allow fire apparatus access roads to be readily recognized so that they will remain unobstructed and available for emergency use at all times. + Fire Potential: The likelihood of a wildland fire event measured in terms of anticipated occurrence of fire(s) and management’s capability to respond. Fire potential is influenced by a sum of factors that includes fuel conditions (fuel dryness and/or other inputs), ignition triggers, significant weather triggers, and resource capability.
+ Fire Regime: The characterization of fire’s role in a particular ecosystem, usually characteristic of particular vegetation and climatic regime, and typically a combination of fire return interval and fire intensity (i.e., high frequency, low intensity/low frequency, high intensity). + Fire Return Interval: The length of time between fires on a particular area of land + Fire Weather: Weather conditions that influence fire ignition, behavior, and suppression. + Flame Length: The distance from the base to the tip of the flaming front. Flame length is directly correlated with fire intensity.
+ Flaming Front: The zone of a moving fire where combustion is primarily flaming. Behind this flaming zone combustion is primarily glowing. Light fuels typically have a shallow flaming front, whereas heavy fuels have a deeper front.
+ Fuel: Any combustible material, which includes but is not limited to living or dead vegetation, human-built structures, and chemicals that will ignite and burn.
+ Fuelbed: An array of fuels usually constructed with specific loading, depth, and particle size to meet experimental requirements; also, commonly used to describe the fuel composition. + Fuel Loading: The amount of fuel present expressed quantitatively in terms of weight of fuel per unit area. + Fuel Model: Mathematical descriptions of fuel properties (e.g., fuel load and fuel depth) that are used as inputs to calculations of fire danger indices and fire behavior potential. + Fuel Moisture Content: The quantity of moisture in fuels expressed as a percentage of the weight when thoroughly dried at 212 degrees Fahrenheit.
+ Fuel Type: An identifiable association of fuel elements of a distinctive plant species, form, size, arrangement, or other characteristics that will cause a predictable rate of fire spread or difficulty of control under specified weather conditions.
+ Gates and Barriers - Devices that restrict pedestrian and vehicle ingress and egress to and from a facility. + Gate and Barrier Locks - Devices that are installed on gates and barriers to secure a property or facility. + Goals: A goal is a broad statement of what you wish to accomplish, an indication of program intentions. + Ground Fire: Fire that consumes the organic material beneath the surface litter ground, such as a peat fire. + Hose Pull - The effective distance (150 feet is standard) that firefighters can drag a hose from fire apparatus to attack a fire. Hose pull is measured along a simulated path of travel accounting for obstructions and not “as the crow flies.”
+ Intensity: The level of heat radiated from the active flaming front of a fire, measured in British thermal units (BTUs) per foot.

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+ Ladder Fuels: Fuels that provide vertical continuity between strata, thereby allowing fire to carry from surface fuels into the crowns of trees or shrubs with relative ease. Ladder fuels help initiate and ensure the continuation of crowning.
+ Local Responsibility Area (LRA) – Land where a city/county has primary financial responsibility for the prevention and suppression of wildland fires. LRA land is generally located within city boundaries. + Live Fuels: Living plants, such as trees, grasses, and shrubs, in which the seasonal moisture content cycle is controlled largely by internal physiological mechanisms, rather than by external weather influences. + Mid-flame Windspeed: The speed of the wind measured at the midpoint of the flames, considered to be most representative of the speed of the wind that is affecting fire behavior. + Objectives: They contribute to the fulfillment of specified goals and are measurable, defined, and specific. + Passive Crown Fire: Also called torching or candling. A fire in the crowns of trees in which single trees or groups of trees torch, ignited by the passing front of the fire. + Safety Zone: A preplanned area of sufficient size and suitable location in the wildland expected to prevent injury to fire personnel without using fire shelters.
+ Red Flag Warning: Term used by fire weather forecasters to alert forecast users to an ongoing or imminent critical fire weather pattern.
+ Riparian: Situated or taking place along or near the bank of a watercourse. + Spotting: Refers to the behavior of a fire producing sparks or embers that are carried by the wind and start new fires beyond the zone of direct ignition by the main fire. + State Responsibility Area (SRA) – Land where the State of California (i.e. CAL FIRE) has primary financial responsibility for the prevention and suppression of wildland fires. All SRA land is located within County unincorporated areas; SRA does not include lands within city boundaries or in federal ownership + Strategy: The general plan or direction selected to accomplish incident objectives. + Surface Fire: Fire that burns loose debris on the surface, which includes dead branches, leaves, and low vegetation.
+ Surface Fuels: Fuels lying on or near the surface of the ground, consisting of leaf and needle litter, dead branch material, downed logs, bark, tree cones, and low stature living plants. + Topography: Referred to as “terrain.” The term also refers to parameters of the “lay of the land” that influence fire behavior and spread. Key elements are slope (in percent), aspect (the direction a slope faces), elevation, and specific terrain features such as canyons, saddles, “chimneys,” and chutes. + Understory: Term for the area of a forest which grows at the lowest height level below the forest canopy.

Plants in the understory consist of a mixture of seedlings and saplings of canopy trees together with understory shrubs and herbs.
+ Values at Risk: People, property, ecological elements, and other human and other intrinsic values within the City. Values at Risk are identified by stakeholders as important to the way of life in the City and are particularly susceptible to damage from undesirable fire outcomes. + Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone (VHFHSZ) – A designated area in which the type and condition of vegetation, topography, fire history, and other relevant factors increase the possibility of uncontrollable Community Wildfire Risk Assessment City of Agoura Hills Page A-4 | September 2025 | Final Rev. 0 Copyright ©2025 Jensen Hughes, Inc.

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wildland fire. Structures within a VHFHSZ require special construction features to protect against wildfire hazards; please consult with the local building department and refer to CBC Chapter 7A for specific requirements
+ Wildland Fire Environment: The surrounding conditions, influences, and modifying forces of fuels, topography, and weather that determine wildfire behavior. + Wildfire Risk Area – Land that is covered with vegetation, which is so situated or is of such an inaccessible location that a fire originating upon it would present an abnormally difficult job of suppression or would result in great or unusual damage through fire, or such areas designated by the fire code official. For purposes of this document, Wildfire Risk Area includes Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zones (see above), WildlandUrban Interfaces (WUI), and similarly hazardous areas Community Wildfire Risk Assessment City of Agoura Hills Page B-1 | September 2025 | Final Rev. 0 Copyright ©2025 Jensen Hughes, Inc.

The public survey received 371 online responses and 10 in-person responses.

C.1 OVERVIEW OF QUANTITATIVE RESPONSES
Below are some key descriptive statistics from the survey responses:
+ Most residents have lived in Agoura Hills – 21+ years + A broad range of neighborhoods represented.
+ Most represented ages – 55 to over 74 years old:

Figure 53. Age of survey respondents by percentage.
+ Respondents largely reside in detached single-family homes + Approximately 96% of all residences in Agoura are built before WUI fire safety codes existed in California. (i.e., Before 2008)
Responses from written surveys:
(2) – 65-74
(6) – Over 74
Skipped: 2
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+ Most homes are owned by the residents.
+ Most residence are privately insured for wildfires.
+ Over 70% of respondents indicated insurance premium and/or deductible has gone up:

Figure 54. Impacts on insurance (by percentage of responses) + Many respondents indicated they have done some level of home hardening (primarily vegetation management and window improvements)
+ About half of the respondents indicated that they have created defensible space + Nearly 90 percent of respondents indicated that they have been impacted by a wildfire in Agoura Hills + For respondents that have been evacuated in the past, over 50 percent indicated they were given sufficient notice
Responses from
written surveys:
(6) – My premium
and/or deductible has
gone up
(3) – My insurance
carrier has cancelled
my coverage
Skipped: 1
Community Wildfire Risk Assessment City of Agoura Hills Page C-3 | September 2025 | Final Rev. 0 Copyright ©2025 Jensen Hughes, Inc.

Figure 55. Percentage of respondents that were given sufficient information on evacuation C.2 OVERVIEW OF OPEN RESPONSES
This section provides a high-level summary of the common themes received in the open response portion of the public survey.

C.2.1 Feedback on Critical Facilities and Services
Regarding reliability of critical facilities and services, residents identified three main categories of concern – communication, electricity and access/egress – where wildfires negatively impacted reliability or availability. + Public Communication and Information:

Lack of consolidated information (including that the city website was insufficient) and having to visit multiple sources to access critical information.
+ Electricity or Power:

Poor communication around power outages from utilities
A cascade of issues associated with power outages (e.g., communication and evacuation during the extended power outages).
+ Evacuation:

Unable to recognize street names used to reference evacuation zones.

Unable to determine whether they were under an evacuation order or the direction of evacuation.

Unable to find evacuation shelters.

Many residents reported extreme congestion, with multiple references to Kanan and Thousand Oaks (TO) streets as “gridlocked”, with down traffic signals and no one directing traffic.

Responses from
written surveys:
(1) – Yes
(5) – No
(3) – I was not given
notice to evacuate
Skipped: 1
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Figure 56. Critical Facilities and Services Identified by Residents as Negatively Impacted by Wildfires in the City. Y-axis identifies the number of times a particular service was identified by respondents.

C.2.2 Feedback on Primary Fire Risk Concerns
Residents’ primary concerns for fire risk to their home and community included insurance, damage/loss to their home, evacuation, home hardening and vegetation management. The top three concerns related to the following:
+ Insurance:

Cost of and availability of insurance, with multiple residents reporting that they were leaving the area because they could no longer afford insurance or could not afford the risk of having insufficient coverage.
+ Home hardening and vegetation management:

The hazard posed by neighboring properties.

Lack of enforcement or enaction of vegetation management by HOA’s.

Difficulty affording the cost of home hardening and vegetation management.

Lack of resources on best practices.

Some residents report concern about the management of public parks and undeveloped lots which contain dry, dead, and nonnative plants.
+ Evacuation:

Multiple communities report concerns about having only one access/egress route.

C.2.3 Mitigation Activities Performed by Residents
Residents described mitigations activities they currently perform to reduce wildfire risk. Common activities included home hardening and vegetation removal, evacuation planning, assembling go bags and kits, self-education and grass roots organizing. See below.
+ Implementing various home hardening activities. Note: Several residents commented on the value of the voluntary hardening evaluation program available in the City. + Conducting vegetation and whole-tree removal.
+ Making evacuation plans.
+ Assembling kits for power outages, assembling go bags, and organizing possessions for evacuation. + Organizing to become a Firewise community and other grassroots community coordination activities. + Taking CERT classes and attending public workshops or emergency fairs. + Documenting home contents for insurance and reevaluating insurance coverage to check if there’s enough coverage for their home value.

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Figure 58. Common wildfire mitigation and preparedness activities undertaken by residents. Y-axis identifies the number of times a resident identified a particular mitigation activity category.

C.2.4 Feedback on Areas of Improvement for Community Wildfire Resiliency and Awareness Residents provided recommendations for improving community wildfire resiliency. Common suggestions included:
+ Many residents requested both in-person and online workshops and webinars. Some requested door-todoor campaigns or tabling at public events. + The timing of current webinars was not doable for many residents, and they requested additional weekend or evening webinars.
+ How or where to find proper materials and contractors for home hardening. + Development of “The Great Shakeout” drill but for wildfire.

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Figure 59. Recommendations for increasing wildfire resiliency and awareness. Y-axis identifies the number of times a resident identified a particular area of improvement category.

C.2.5 Additional General Feedback
Residents also provided additional general comments. These are summarized as follows:
+ Residents found communication around evacuation and outages to be deficient. + Residents had additional concerns about evacuation, repeating how roads clogged during evacuations, and some noted the prevalence of single lane roads.
+ Residents also had additional concerns regarding utilities, including power outages, loss of communication due to power outages, and the threat of ignition from overhead lines. + Residents were concerned about fuels management in public spaces including along roads and power lines and called for cohesive and extensive improvements to make Agoura hills more fire safe. Similarly, residents had concerns about non-native plants/tress (e.g., tropical vegetation and palms) on public and private property. and called for clear and consistent communication on vegetation management best practices.

Agoura Hills City CouncilOctober 22, 2025

Agoura Hills City Council
October 22, 2025