After wildfires scorched parts of Los Angeles County, Governor Gavin Newsom is tightening fire safety rules. Newsom’s latest executive order reclassifies 1.4 million acres into the highest fire risk categories, triggering stricter building codes and new planning requirements.
Cal Fire Chief Jim McDougald said the new system breaks fire risk into three categories– very high, high and moderate– making prevention and response more precise.
“There's an additional two zones being transmitted to the local agencies to adopt, which include high and moderate, so the 1.4 [million acres] includes the high [zone],” McDougald said. “There's a lot of acres that were never required to be adopted by the local agencies, so where your biggest chunk comes from is the addition of high.”
State officials said they won’t know the total land percentage covered until local authorities review the maps. The first updates, released Monday, apply to Northern California counties like Butte, Placer and Shasta. More maps will roll out in the next six weeks.
Newsom is also pushing “Zone 0” regulations that would require homeowners in high-risk zones to clear flammable materials within five feet of their homes.
