Glendale (PDF) - Hazard Mitigation Web Portal - State of California

Natural Hazards Mitigation PlanCity of Glendale, CaliforniaSection 7 – Wildfireshazard assessment systems have been developed for the purpose of identifying and quantifyingthe severity of the hazard in a given area. Those that have been developed or used in Californiaare described further below. Early systems characterized the fire hazard of an area based on aweighted factor that typically considered fuel, weather and topography. More recent systemsrely on the use of Geographic Information System (GIS) technology to integrate the factorslisted above to map the hazards, and to predict fire behavior and the impact on watersheds.• HUD Study System: In April 1973, the California Department of Forestry and FirePrevention (CDF) published a study funded by the Department of Housing and UrbanDevelopment (HUD) under an agreement with the Governor’s Office of Planning andResearch (Helm et al., 1973). As is often the case, the study was conducted in responseto a disaster: during September and October 1970, 773 wildfires burned more than580,000 acres of California land. The HUD mapping process relied on informationobtained from US Geological Survey (USGS) 15- and 7.5-minute quadrangle maps onfuel loading (vegetation type and density) and slope, and combined it with fire weatherinformation to determine the Fire Hazard Severity of an area.• California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection – State ResponsibilityAreas System: Legislative mandates passed in 1981 (Senate Bill 81, Ayala, 1981) and1982 (Senate Bill 1916, Ayala, 1982) that became effective on July 1, 1986, required theCDF to develop and implement a system to rank the fire hazards in California. Areaswere rated as moderate, high or very high based primarily on fuel types. Thirteendifferent fuel types were considered using the 7.5-minute quadrangle maps by the USGeological Survey as base maps (Phillips, 1983). Areas identified as having a fire hazardwere referred to as State Responsibility Areas (SRAs) (Public Resources Code Section4125). These are non-federal lands covered wholly or in part by timber, brush,undergrowth or grass, for which the State has the primary financial responsibility ofpreventing and suppressing fires.• Bates Bill Process: The Bates Bill (Assembly Bill 337, September 29, 1992) was adirect result of the great loss of lives and homes in the Oakland Hills Tunnel Fire of1991. Briefly, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CDF), incooperation with local fire authorities was tasked to identify Very High Fire HazardSeverity Zones (VHFHSZs) in Local Responsibility Areas (LRAs). To accomplish this,the CDF formed a working group comprised of state and local representatives thatdevised a point system that considers fuel (vegetation), slope, weather, and dwellingdensity. To qualify as a VHFHSZ, an area has to score ten or more points in thegrading scale.Once the boundaries of a VHFHSZ have been delineated, the CDF notifies the local fireauthorities that are responsible for fire prevention and suppression within that area.Since the State is not financially responsible for Local Responsibility Areas, localjurisdictions have final say regarding whether or not an area should be included in aVHFHSZ (Government Code Section 51178). As a result, although several areas inCalifornia have adopted the State-developed fire hazard maps, many local jurisdictionsdid not acknowledge the Bates system, and developed their own maps instead. Localjurisdictions that do not follow the Bates system are required to follow at a minimumthe model ordinance developed by the State Fire Marshal for mitigation purposes. TheCity of Glendale is one of the cities that has developed its own fire hazard map and hasadopted stringent hazard mitigation programs that have often been years ahead of Stateregulations. This will be discussed further in the following sections of this report.2006 PAGE 7 - 8