Officials from the Beverly Hills Fire Department on May 28 held an information session on revised wildfire zoning maps recently disseminated by the state, which designate new areas in Beverly Hills as very high fire hazard severity zones (VHFHSZ).
At a second-floor room in City Hall, Beverly Hills Fire Chief Gregory Barton and Assistant Fire Chief – Fire Marshal Trevor Richmond presented information to nearly a dozen attendees about how the maps were created and what they will mean for residents.
The new maps, which classify fire hazard severity zones throughout the state, were released by the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire) on March 24.
The maps designate regions throughout the state as moderate, high or very high fire hazard severity zones. The new VHFHSZ areas in Beverly Hills are primarily located south of Sunset Boulevard in residential blocks stretching south to Lomitas and Elevado Avenues.
Residents whose property is located in VHFHSZ must adhere to state laws that govern maintenance in the areas immediately around their homes, such as the reduction of intense fuel within 5 feet of the building and managing vegetation up to 100 feet from the building.
To create the new maps, Cal Fire used updated systems that account more accurately for wind patterns that might blowembers into urban areas. Beverly Hills’ new classifications reflect that increased predicting ability.
Mayor Sharona Nazarian opened the May 28 information session, emphasizing in a brief speech that the maps were developed by state officials, not city officials. Nazarian said that because of Beverly Hills’ exceptional fire department and emergency response plans, she does not believe that the city should have been subject to a one-size-fits-all mapping process.
“We’ve tried to be an advocate for our residents,” she said. “We’ve gone to Sacramento; I myself have met with various lawmakers to try to be a voice for our community … Our fire department is class one, internationally recognized; they have a less than four-minute response time, which is unheard of in any other city. These are things that, unfortunately, the state doesn’t recognize, and they’ve lumped everybody into the same mapping.”
Nazarian encouraged residents to reach out to their elected officials to “let them know that this is unacceptable.”
Barton reiterated Nazarian’s stance, stressing that there is little elected officials in Beverly Hills can do to push back against the new classifications.
“We don’t have a lot of say in what we’re going to do … but I think it’s important to realize that because of the [City] Council, because of the community and what we provide to the city and to the community itself, you’re very well protected,” he said.
Richmond noted that fire officials’ goal is not to enforce the code in a punitive manner, but to educate and protect the community.
“It’s an opportunity for us as a city to really look at things that we can do in the community to reduce risk,” he said.
All properties that are newly located in the VHFHSZ will now require annual brush inspections. Residents who own those properties will receive mailers on how to maintain defensible space and will be visited by fire officials who will help assess “what brush clearance looks like for you,” Richmond said.
“If I walk around your home and I find a woodpile against the side of your house, and I’m afraid that an ember’s going to land in that and then catch that woodpile on fire, and catch your eaves on fire and your attics on fire, and then we’re off to the races,” he said, “I’m going to tell you to pull that wood pile away from the home.”
Questions were raised by attendees about how the new regulations will affect insurance rates, what to do about neighbors who do not adequately clear brush and whether an increased campaign by residents might influence state lawmakers on this issue.
