Cal Fire Maps Add 3.5M Acres to Hazard Zones

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Cal Fire's new maps show a shocking 3.5 million more acres in Southern California now classified as fire danger zones.

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Los Angeles County alone saw 440,000 new acres added to hazard zones, with "very high" risk areas jumping 30% since 2011.

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Homeowners in "high" and "very high" zones must follow stricter building codes and maintain defensible space around their properties.

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Some cities faced dramatic increases - Jurupa Valley's highest danger zone exploded from just 226 acres to over 6,000 acres.

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The January Eaton fire exposed mapping limitations when it burned through areas not marked as high risk on Cal Fire's previous maps.

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Local governments now have 120 days to gather public input before enforcing new safety rules based on these updated fire maps.

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Fire experts blame both climate change and decades of building homes in wildland areas for the growing wildfire crisis in California.

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"We have been sprawling into the wildlands for 75-plus years with little consideration of the impacts," said Howard Penn from the Planning and Conservation League.

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