Mendocino County, CA Fire Regulations: Wildfire Zones (2026)

005. 010 states the chapter's purpose is to minimize risk to life and property in areas of high fire, flood and geologic hazard and to assure structural integrity, without requiring protective devices that would alter natural landforms along bluffs and cliffs. 025 sets the fire-specific standard: hazard areas are classified under the California Department of Forestry's Fire Hazard Severity Classification System into moderate, high or extreme categories, and every new development must be sited with regard to that severity, the type of development proposed, and the added fire risk the project itself would create.

Where feasible, the code directs that areas of extreme fire hazard be avoided for development altogether, reserving them for agricultural and open-space uses rather than homes or commercial buildings. 030 applies FEMA's 100-year floodway limits. All three hazard categories are reviewed together at the Coastal Development Permit stage by the County Coastal Permit Administrator, so a wildfire-hazard finding can affect siting, density or design conditions attached to a coastal building permit even where the fire standard itself sets no numeric setback.