Parcel Risk Report

Wildfire hazard in San Joaquin County: Fire Hazard Severity Zones, AB-38, and how to check one address

CAL FIRE and the Office of the State Fire Marshal map every part of San Joaquin County into a Fire Hazard Severity Zone — Moderate, High, or Very High. Here's what those classes mean, the AB-38 disclosure duty in High/Very-High zones, and how to see the official CAL FIRE class for one specific property.

What is the Fire Hazard Severity Zone for a specific San Joaquin County address?

That answer is parcel-precise — it depends on the exact location, not the county. Run the free per-address check below: it returns the official CAL FIRE FHSZ class (and State/Local Responsibility Area) for one property, alongside the FEMA flood map and other cited federal & state sources.

Check a specific San Joaquin County address for its CAL FIRE fire-hazard zone

County context is a starting point. To see the official CAL FIRE Fire Hazard Severity Zone class for one property in San Joaquin County — side by side with the FEMA flood map and other cited sources — run the free per-address check:

Open the free Beyond-FEMA checker → · See San Joaquin County flood risk →

What a Fire Hazard Severity Zone (FHSZ) is

California's Office of the State Fire Marshal (OSFM) and CAL FIRE map every part of the state into Fire Hazard Severity Zones. The zone reflects factors that drive wildfire behaviour — vegetation/fuels, terrain and slope, typical fire weather, and ember-cast potential — and is assigned one of three categorical classes:

Moderate	The lowest mapped severity class.
High	Elevated wildfire hazard.
Very High	The highest mapped severity class.

These are CAL FIRE / OSFM's own categorical hazard classes — they describe the likelihood and intensity of wildfire over a ~30–50 year horizon for the landscape, not a proprietary or predictive score, and not a forecast for an individual home. Source: OSFM Fire Hazard Severity Zones (osfm.fire.ca.gov).

State vs Local Responsibility Area (SRA / LRA)

Two agencies map fire hazard depending on who is responsible for wildfire protection in an area:

State Responsibility Area (SRA) — wildland areas where CAL FIRE has primary protection responsibility. The current SRA FHSZ maps took effect 2024-04-01.
Local Responsibility Area (LRA) — incorporated cities and other areas protected by local fire departments. OSFM recommended the current LRA Very-High / High / Moderate maps on 2025-03-24 (with adoption that follows locally).
Federal Responsibility Area (FRA) — federal land (e.g. National Forests). CAL FIRE's SRA/LRA layers do not assign an FHSZ class there, so a parcel can fall outside the mapped SRA/LRA zones without that meaning "no wildfire risk."

AB-38: the disclosure & home-hardening duty in High / Very High zones

For homes in a High or Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone, California's Assembly Bill 38 (2019) adds duties on a sale, codified at Civil Code §1102.19 and Government Code §51182:

The seller must disclose the listed home-hardening features (and, for homes built before 2010, those that may be vulnerable to ember intrusion).
The property must be in compliance with defensible-space requirements (or that obligation is addressed between buyer and seller).
This is part of why a property's FHSZ class matters well beyond fire season — it can shape disclosure obligations and home-insurance availability. AB-38 text: leginfo.legislature.ca.gov.

Why the FHSZ class drives insurance, too

Admitted-market homeowners insurance is often harder or costlier to obtain for homes in a High or Very High FHSZ, which is why so many California owners end up on the California FAIR Plan (the state's insurer of last resort) paired with a separate wrap policy. We keep a plain-English, cited explainer of that here: California FAIR Plan & insurance availability →. This page does not predict any carrier's decision.

How this page is sourced (and what it is not)

The Fire Hazard Severity Zone classes, the SRA/LRA distinction, and the adopted-map dates come straight from CAL FIRE / OSFM (osfm.fire.ca.gov; fire.ca.gov). Map vintage: SRA effective 2024-04-01, LRA recommended 2025-03-24; reviewed 2026-06-02.
This county page carries no per-property and no per-county fire figure — a parcel's FHSZ class is location-specific, so we route you to the per-address check rather than publish a number we cannot honestly attribute. The free check returns the official class for one address; we never assign a proprietary or predictive score.
Outside a mapped SRA/LRA zone is not a determination of zero wildfire risk — it can simply be a Federal Responsibility Area or an undesignated local area.
This is general public-data information — not a Natural Hazard Disclosure Statement, and it does not satisfy California Civil Code §1103.2 (the seller's statutory disclosure in a sale).

Get the full picture for this property

This free check shows the flood-gap only. Two paid reports go further — both cover every hazard (flood, wildfire/AB-38, earthquake, dam, fault, seismic, radon & air quality) in plain English, with a shareable PDF:

Parcel Hazard Report — $19 → Buyer's Diligence Dossier — $59 →

$19 Parcel Hazard Report — the all-hazards report in plain English, with a quick insurance check. $59 Buyer's Diligence Dossier — everything in the $19, plus the full Insurance Availability Outlook, a forward-looking climate section, and a parcel hazard-overlay map.

Both are informational reports to help you understand this property — not the statutory §1103.2 Natural Hazard Disclosure a seller provides in a sale (that's a separate document professionals prepare — see pricing). One flat price each, no account.