Berkeley, CA Fire Regulations: Wildfire Zones (2026)

3, naming four zones: the High Fire Hazard Severity Zone, the Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone, the Panoramic Mitigation Area, and the Grizzly Peak Mitigation Area. The ordinance draws the High Hazard Zone boundary by a specific chain of street segments running from the Kensington border down Arlington Avenue, Fountain Walk, Sutter Street, Eunice Street, Spruce Street, Hearst Avenue, Gayley Road, Piedmont Avenue and Crescent, Warring Street, Derby Street, Belrose Avenue, and Claremont Boulevard and Avenue to the Oakland border, and it states that a home addressed on, or with frontage on, either side of those segments sits inside the zone.

The Panoramic Mitigation Area, bounded by Centennial Drive, Stadium Rim Way, Canyon Road, Bancroft Way and Steps, Piedmont Avenue, and Dwight Way East to the Oakland border, and the Grizzly Peak Mitigation Area, covering everything east of Grizzly Peak Boulevard to the city limit, are both separately designated by ordinance as Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zones regardless of the statewide CalFIRE map. 1 defines everywhere else in the city as the Flatlands Area, which sits outside the Wildland-Urban Interface Code. 4 makes clear that the code's construction, roofing, vegetation, and access requirements under Chapters 4 through 6 apply only inside these four designated areas, and the City maintains a publicly accessible GIS map showing the exact zone boundaries for a given parcel.