While FHSZs do not predict when or where a wildfire will occur, they do identify areas where wildfire hazards could be more severe and therefore are of greater concern. FHSZs are meant to help limit wildfire damage to structures through planning, prevention, and mitigation activities/requirements that reduce risk. The FHSZs serve several purposes: they are used to designate areas where California’s wildland urban interface building codes apply to new buildings; they can be a factor in real estate disclosure; and local governments consider fire hazard severity in the safety elements of their general plans.

PRC 4201 - 4204 and Govt. Code 51175-89 direct the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE) to map areas of significant fire hazards based on fuels, terrain, weather, and other relevant factors. These zones, referred to as Fire Hazard Severity Zones (FHSZ), define the application of various mitigation strategies to reduce risk associated with wildland fires. CAL FIRE is remapping Fire Hazard Severity Zones (FHSZ) for State Responsibility Areas (SRA) and Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zones (VHFHSZ) recommendations in Local Responsibility Areas (LRA) to provide updated map zones, based on new data, science, and technology.This specific dataset is used to create the offical "Maps of Fire Hazard Severity Zones in the State Responsibility Area of California" as required by Public Resources Code 4201-4204 and entitled in the California Code of Regulation, Title 14, Section 1280 Fire Hazard Severity Zones, and as adopted by CAL FIRE on November 7, 2007Maps of the adopted zones in SRA are available at: http://frap.cdf.ca.gov/projects/hazard/fhz.htmlMore information about the project can be found at: http://frap.cdf.ca.gov/projects/hazard/hazard.html