Communities

If your home sits in the natural vegetation of San Mateo County's foothills or coastal mountains, you live in the wildland-urban interface, and wildfire is part of your address. The shrubs, trees, and grasses that make our hills beautiful evolved to burn.

In many of our vegetation types, it is not a matter of if a wildfire will impact your community, but when; the 2020 CZU Lightning Complex settled that question for this county. Living in the WUI requires more self-reliance than living in town. Engines may take longer to reach you, and during an escalating wildfire, no fire department has an engine for every home. Firefighters will do everything they can, but the condition of your parcel and your neighborhood when the fire arrives is your responsibility, and it is what largely determines the outcome.

Know Your Community's Hazard

California maps fire hazard through the State Fire Marshal's Fire Hazard Severity Zone (FHSZ) program. The maps were comprehensively updated in 2024 (State Responsibility Area) and 2025 (Local Responsibility Area), replacing designations that in some cities dated to 2008, and they expanded designated zones in many San Mateo County communities. Local jurisdictions adopt the LRA designations by ordinance.

• Official FHSZ maps and address lookup (OSFM)
• San Mateo County planning: what the designations mean locally
• SRA vs. LRA: who protects and regulates your parcel

Organize Your Neighborhood

Individual preparation matters, but fire moves through neighborhoods, not parcels. Homes ignite each other, fences and vegetation connect properties, and the work that changes outcomes (fuel breaks, roadside clearance, coordinated Zone 0 compliance along shared lot lines) crosses property boundaries. Organized communities also qualify for resources individual homeowners cannot reach: chipper days, grant-funded projects, and insurance recognition.