Fire Hazard Severity Zones map covers Scripps Ranch
By John Gregory
The California State Fire Marshal’s office, on behalf of CalFire, released its new map of Fire Hazard Severity Zones in March as required by State law.
Wildfire danger in Scripps Ranch is no secret. Residents were forced to evacuate during the Cedar Fire in October 2003, which destroyed more than 300 structures locally. This fire prompted special building codes in very high fire hazard severity zones. Another wildfire evacuation was ordered in 2007, but the community was spared.
This year’s Fire Hazard Severity Zone map shows large swaths of zones categorized as “very high” within much of Scripps Ranch. While the map is not extremely detailed, it shows high severity zones include neighborhoods south of Pomerado Road, the areas surrounding most of Lake Miramar, territory south of Scripps Poway Parkway through many northern areas of Scripps Ranch and east into Stonebridge.
CalFire’s firefighting jurisdiction involves unincorporated areas of the state, but the Fire Hazard Severity Zone map also includes counties and incorporated cities.
“It’s based off of different fire hazards that include different slopes, topography of the land, the fuel types and the types of vegetation,” CalFire spokesman Robert Johnson said. “The hazard is an assessment based on the typography and the general area as opposed to risk assessment. It’s not the same as a risk assessment.”
The map was developed using a science based model, Johnson said. He emphasized again that risk is different than the hazard assessment.
“Risk is more like the potential damage a fire can do in an area,” he said, adding that the risk is modified depending on a homeowner’s fuel reduction or defensible space clearance or home hardening of a structure.
“Fire history is one of the factors considered when developing these maps,” he said.
According to the CalFire website, the map is not a structure loss model. It is used for “wildland urban interface building standards for new construction; natural hazard real estate disclosures at the time of sale; 100 foot defensible space clearance requirements around buildings; property development standards such as road widths, water supply and signage; and for consideration of cities’ and counties’ future development.”
The Fire Hazard Severity Zones do not necessarily affect home insurance rates, according to CalFire: “Insurance companies use risk models, which differ from hazard models, because they consider the susceptibility of a structure to damage from fire and other short-term factors that are not included in hazard modeling. It is unlikely that insurance risk models specifically call out CalFire Fire Hazard Severity Zones as a factor, but much of the same data that is used in the fire hazard severity zone model is likely included in the insurance companies’ risk models. However, insurance risk models incorporate many additional factors and factors that change more frequently than those that CalFire includes in its hazard mapping.”
Fire Hazard Severity map and more information: bit.ly/460LZdu.
The City of San Diego produces its own Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone Map. The City’s website explains: “State law requires that all local jurisdictions identify very high fire hazard severity zones within their areas of responsibility. Inclusion within these zones is based on vegetation density, slope severity and other relevant factors that contribute to fire severity. … The purpose of this map is to classify lands in accordance with whether a very high fire hazard is present so that public officials are able to identify measures that will retard the rate of fire spread and reduce the intensity of uncontrolled fire through vegetation management and implementation of building standards developed to minimize loss of life, resources and property.”
City of San Diego Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone Map: bit.ly/45KD275