The city of San Diego chose a “worse case scenario” because of wildfires that had occurred in the city, according to Mónica Muñoz, a spokesperson for the city’s Fire-Rescue Department.ĭepending on the category, builders and residents must take certain steps to reduce the risk of destruction by wildfire, including building with noncombustible materials and ember-resistant vents and clearing vegetation around the home. Local jurisdictions then adopted the map, some with changes. The current model, developed in 2007 by Cal Fire, categorizes areas as having moderate, high or very high threat of fire based on local topography and vegetation.
The underlying model was last updated in 2007. Environmentalists often challenge large-scale housing projects in parts of San Diego County that are undeveloped, and some projects have been stopped because of concerns around fire hazard.Ĭal Fire’s maps of fire hazard severity zones show regions at very high, high or moderate fire hazard. Lori Holt Pfeiler, the president and CEO of the Building Industry Association of San Diego County, said the changes to the maps could make it harder to meet local housing goals and make building homes more expensive if the higher cost of meeting the standards isn’t offset by allowing larger scale developments in the hundreds of homes at a time as opposed to 50 or fewer. Since then, California wildfires made worse by climate change have broken records in size, destructiveness and deadliness. The maps, which are supposed to be updated every five years, were last developed in 2007. Inewsource is an independent and nonprofit journalism organization in San Diego, and relies on grants and philanthropists to support its investigative content. The new maps, expected to start rolling out in early 2022, could change the shape of local development, particularly in foothills that were not previously categorized as under high threat of wildfire but that have occasionally experienced flames driven west from the backcountry by Santa Ana winds. Long overdue changes to governmental fire maps showing the threat of fire in communities across the state are expected to trigger stricter building codes and other requirements aimed at reducing wildfire risk in more of the San Diego region. San Diego fire crews put down a fire near Fairmont Avenue and Aldine Drive in San Diego, Calif., October 15, 2019.
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