How to resolve AdBlock issue? On Feb. 10, Cal Fire released its new fire hazard severity zone map for “Local Responsibility Areas,” or the LRA, adding a total of 14,000 acres of Lake County land to the “very high” fire hazard severity zone, marking an 878% increase in acreage designated the highest severity category.
County and city officials feared that with such expansion, the new map could have major implications for the county, particularly in relation to fire insurance. They also have questioned the fact that the ratings on the map cannot be altered to a lower grade, regardless of local mitigation efforts.
The new map is in a 90-day public comment period that began Feb. 12 and ends Tuesday, May 13.
Local governments are required to adopt the map by ordinance at the end of a 120-day period; their deadline is July 1.
Nearly three months after the map’s release, both the cities of Lakeport and Clearlake report receiving no public input.
“At this time the City of Lakeport has not received any comments regarding the LRA Fire Hazard Severity Maps,” Lakeport City Manger Kevin Ingram said in an email to Lake County News this week.
“We haven't received any comments I am aware of,” Clearlake City Manager Alan Flora said. “We had been worried the response would be very muted.”
With the adoption deadline approaching, all three local governments are considering setting public hearings.
County Community Development Director Mireya Turner said the Board of Supervisors is tentatively scheduled to hold a first reading of the draft ordinance adopting the map on May 20.
Flora said Clearlake will present the map and ordinance at next week’s City Council meeting.
Ingram said Lakeport is tentatively planning to bring the item to either its June 3 or June 17 meeting. Once a date is confirmed, he expects public interest to increase.
“However, Cal Fire does not really leave much room for substantive action on any received comments beyond upzoning a location,” he added, noting the limited effect public input may have.
Still, officials say the opportunity for comment remains important.
During a Clearlake City Council meeting in February, Flora urged residents to speak up — even though he didn’t expect many would.
“Unfortunately, the community probably is not going to respond or care about this as much as they should until they get a cancellation notice of their insurance,” he said at the time. “Which, if they do nothing, is going to happen.”
The public can still direct questions about the maps to the Office of the State Fire Marshal at
Public comment can be submitted to the county and two city councils:
City of Clearlake: 14050 Olympic Drive, Clearlake. Email comments that apply within the city of Clearlake to:
City of Lakeport: 225 Park St., Lakeport. Email comments that apply within the city of Lakeport to:
County of Lake: 255 N Forbes St., Lakeport, Third Floor, Community Development Department. Email comments for County Jurisdiction areas to:
Significant increase in the highest-severity zone acreage
The release of the new LRA map marks its first update since 2011.
Compared to the 2011 version, this new map significantly expands the “very high” acreage in Lake County.
In Clearlake, the acreage rated as “very high” increases from 1,583 to 4,054 acres. In Lakeport, it rises from zero to 603 acres.
Meanwhile, unincorporated areas under county jurisdiction see the most dramatic jump, from just 5 acres to 10,881 acres.
Overall, the total acreage classified as "very high" has grown by 13,950 acres — from 1,588 to 15,538 acres — a total increase of approximately 878%.
In addition, the 2011 map was only required to show the “very high” category. The new map, however, also displays local areas rated moderate and high.
This is not the first time that Lake County has dealt with concerns about the fire hazard severity zone map.
The Office of the State Fire Marshal is required by law to classify both the state and local responsibility areas into moderate, high and very high fire hazard severity zones.
In April 2024, the updated mapping for State Responsibility Areas went into effect, despite local opposition expressed during the public hearing at the Lake County Board of Supervisors meeting.
The updated State Responsibility Areas map classified 366,812 acres in Lake County as "very high" fire hazard zones, accounting for 92% of the total acreage under SRA.
Concerns on fire insurance and the mandatory adoption process
Local officials have raised concerns about both the consequences and the process of adopting the new LRA map.
While Cal Fire and the State Insurance Commission maintain that the map is intended for governance and administrative purposes, a new policy enacted in December allows insurance companies to incorporate catastrophic maps into rate-setting.
“We know that the insurance companies were using them,” said Lakeport Fire Chief Patrick Reitz in a preliminary discussion about the map at the Lakeport city council meeting on Feb. 18.
“But now it is absolutely permitted,” he said.
Cal Fire has also been instructed to accelerate its “Zone 0” policy implementation which requires all structures in “very high” fire hazard zones on the LRA map to maintain an “ember-resistant zone” within the immediate 5-feet of structures.
In the meantime, local officials are frustrated by the fact that the county and cities “must” adopt the map as required by state law.
It’s not by choice, said Flora, who also used the word “restrictive” to describe the lack of flexibility in the adoption process: “We can increase the severity zones, but we can’t decrease them.”
“It is frustrating to be able to do a lot of mitigation work that still does not impact these severity zones,” Flora added.
“If you have ‘moderate,’ you can make a claim — ‘actually, it’s not moderate, it should be high,’” said Supervisor Bruno Sabatier of the rule that he found peculiar. “I don’t know who would ever do it.”
“We can’t do anything about it,” Chief Reitz said. “They give us a public hearing process that's lip service only.”
Email staff reporter Lingzi Chen at
