How to check your CAL FIRE Fire Hazard Severity Zone

California maps wildfire hazard at the parcel level. If you own a home anywhere near wildland, the first thing to know is which Fire Hazard Severity Zone (FHSZ) you are in, because it decides what building and vegetation rules apply to you, what your insurer sees, and how urgently you should plan for evacuation.

The three zones

CAL FIRE rates hazard, not risk. The map describes how likely an area is to burn and how intensely, based on vegetation, slope, weather and ember exposure. It does not say whether your particular house will survive; that depends on what you do around it.

• Moderate. Fire can occur, but fuel and terrain make extreme behavior less likely.
• High. Fire is likely to arrive with significant intensity and ember cast.
• Very High. The most severe class. Expect fast-moving fire, long-range embers and the strictest building and defensible-space rules.

State and local responsibility areas

There are two map layers, and your address can be on either.

• The State Responsibility Area (SRA) is land where CAL FIRE is the primary fire agency. These are mostly rural and wildland-adjacent parcels.
• The Local Responsibility Area (LRA) is land inside cities and fire districts. CAL FIRE provides the hazard map, and the local agency adopts it, sometimes with additions.

CAL FIRE updated both sets of maps in 2025, and many neighborhoods that had no designation before now have one. If you last checked years ago, check again.

How to look up your address

1. Open the CAL FIRE Fire Hazard Severity Zone viewer at osfm.fire.ca.gov.
2. Search your street address. The map shows the zone colour for the SRA layer and, where adopted, the LRA layer.
3. Note which layer you are on. The rules that follow are enforced by that agency.

Our wildfire assessment does this lookup for you. Type your address and the plan shows your CAL FIRE zone, if either map covers the parcel, before drawing the defensible-space rings around your building.

What changes once you are in a mapped zone

• Defensible space is required, not recommended. Zones 0, 1 and 2 around the home each have their own rules. See Defensible space in California: Zones 0, 1 and 2 explained.
• Chapter 7A building standards apply to new construction and many remodels in Very High zones: ember-resistant vents, Class A roofs, tempered glazing and similar.
• Disclosure at sale. Sellers must disclose the zone and, in many cases, defensible-space compliance.
• Insurance. Carriers use the maps alongside their own models. A documented mitigation plan is increasingly part of staying insured.

Evacuation comes first

None of this replaces leaving when the order comes. Hazard zones tell you how early to prepare, how much vegetation work matters and whether an engineered system is worth considering for the time after you have left. Follow your county's evacuation orders, keep a go-bag ready and know two ways out of your neighborhood.

If you want to see your zone and what a plan for the property looks like, start the wildfire assessment. It is free, takes a minute, and ends with a Revio advisor call if you want one.