The Riverside City Council April 8 voted unanimously to adopt a new local ordinance requiring property owners within high-risk fire hazard zones to comply with new safety measures, like removing dead vegetation around their homes and undergoing annual inspections.
“The idea is that we can reduce wildfire risk before the fire season starts,” Riverside Fire Department Deputy Chief Brian Guzzetta told the council. “It also provides firefighters [with a] safeguard when they are defending homes.”
The move followed the council’s review of the proposed Fire Hazard Severity Zone map for the city, released last month by the California Forestry and Fire Department (Cal Fire). This map, which would replace previous iterations released in 2011, highlighted hazardous zones that the local government is responsible for managing.
Riverside council members are required, by the state, to adopt an updated hazard map by the end of July. Officials have the option to adopt the Cal Fire map as proposed or to adopt a map with increased hazard zones, but they cannot adopt a map with decreases to the zones as proposed.
The adopted map will determine which areas will be subject to the new fire safety measures. According to Fire Marshal Garrett Coryell, the proposed maps include approximately 12,900 parcels in the city in Cal Fire’s high and very high severity zones.
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“The previous map only had the very high severity zones,” Coryell said. “It was around 2,700 [parcels], so we’ve had a fairly decent increase.”
Those property owners, under the new ordinance, will be required to create a defensible space: A 100-foot perimeter around their homes free of dried weeds, flammable garbage and other combustible materials. The requirement could extend to adjacent properties as well, holding neighbors responsible for clearing parts of their property to ensure homes in hazard zones reach the defensible space minimum.
Before enforcement of the new ordinance begins, property owners can expect to receive an annual notice explaining the requirements along with a deadline for meeting them. An inspection would take place some time after 30 days. Properties with violations will have 10 days to comply or risk facing a fine for noncompliance.
Fire officials said the department was preparing a plan to implement the ordinance. According to Guzzetta, the department is expected to present an outline for the council to review later this year.
During discussion of the new ordinance, Councilmember Clarissa Cervantes raised concerns that some residents would not be able to comply due to financial or physical limitations.
“I do think we need to explore having some type of budget put aside to help and support homeowners that cannot afford doing the clearing,” she said. “Those who do have recurring fines, maybe those fines go into a pot that then can support people who could qualify.”
According to Coryell, fire department officials expect to come back at the council’s May 6 meeting for further discussion on the hazard maps. The maps are currently up on the fire department’s website for public review and comment.
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