New fire maps put nearly 4 million Californians in hazardous zones. What does that mean for the people who live there?

By Ben Christopher
CALmatters
March 24, 2025
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: United States, US West

CALIFORNIA — With the release of its fourth and final round of color-coded hazard maps this morning, California’s firefighting agency is showing just how much of the state is prone to wildfire — and how much that computationally-modeled danger zone has grown since the state issued its last round of local hazard maps more than a decade ago. With a few notable areas where the orange and red tide receded, like the hills above Berkeley and Oakland, territory deemed “high” or “very high” hazard exploded across the state, increasing by 168% since 2011. All told, the size of these orange and red patches on the new maps is 3,626 square miles. …That’s home to roughly 3.7 million people.  That means roughly 1-in-10 Californians are subject to an array of building code, defensible space and real estate disclosure rules, all of which could have lasting effects on how people live, communities plan and housing markets function. 

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