Santa Rosa City Council
March 18, 2025

Ordinance Designating Moderate, High
And Very High Fire Hazard Severity
Zones as Recommended by CalFire
City Council Meeting
March 18, 2025
Paul Lowenthal
Division Chief Fire Marshal, Fire Department
1 Purpose
• Government Code Section 51179
• Local jurisdictions are required to adopt, by ordinance, updated fire hazard severity zones in our jurisdiction within 120 days of receiving recommendations from the State Fire Marshal.
• By locally adopting the updated CalFire maps released on 2/24/2025, the City of Santa Rosa will then meet the requirements of Government Code Section 51179.
2 History
• Assembly Bill 337 (Bates 1992), prompted by the devastating Oakland Hills fire of 1991, call for CAL FIRE to evaluate fire hazard severity in local responsibility area (LRA) and to make a recommendation to the local jurisdiction where Very High FHSZ exist.
• On February 24, 2009, the City Council adopted the ordinance Designating Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zones as recommended by CalFire and designating wildland-urban interface (WUI) fire areas as designated by the Chief of the Fire Department.
• Under Senate Bill 63 (Stern, 2021) Government Code 51178 was amended to also identify Moderate and High Fire Hazard Severity Zones with the Very High in LRA.
3 WUI Update
• Possible expansion and/or contraction of City’s current WUI boundary to reflect, at a minimum, to include both High and Very High FHSZ • California’s WUI Building codes (CBC Chapter 7A) apply to the design and construction of new buildings in High and Very High FHSZs in LRA.
• SRFD will work with internal and external stakeholders, including our community, on changes that could be proposed to our existing WUI area.
5 QUESTIONS?
6