Montebello joined an expanding number of cities and communities in California appearing for the first time in CalFire’s latest update of its Fire Hazard Severity Zone map released on Monday.

CalFire, California’s Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, identified several areas within the northern section of Montebello as having moderate, high and very high fire zones. The designation pinpoints area most susceptible to wildfires because of the type of vegetation, topology, changing climate and weather.

“These updated maps highlight the wildfire risks in our city and serve as a reminder that preparedness is key,” said Fernando Peláez, fire chief for the Montebello Fire Department. “By implementing fire safety measures and remaining vigilant, we can help mitigate the potential impact of wildfires in our community.”

Montebello is one of 13 Los Angeles County cities that didn’t have any fire zones designated in the agency’s previous map released in 2011. The cities include Santa Monica, South Pasadena, Alhambra, Rosemead and West Hollywood, according to Daniel Berlant, state fire marshal.

Berlant said the maps should serve as a planning tool to guide local governments and residents in mitigating their fire risk.

It’s a message the Montebello Fire Department, which serves the city’s 65,000 residents, is addressing.

Its Community Risk Reduction Division will launch a public education campaign in May, providing residents and business owners with guidance should they encounter new requirements based on the category their property falls under.

Enforcement of rules and regulations as it relates to the new zones is not expected to begin until after the public education campaign is completed.

Such rules might include home-hardening retrofits and brush clearance as well as disclosing a home’s “very high” hazard classification to possible buyers.

Classified in the red “Very high” severity zone are portions of Durfee Avenue and State Route 19 (Lakewood/Rosemead Boulevard) adjoining San Gabriel Boulevard and the Whittier Narrows Recreation Area.

Much of the newly-identified spaces are designated “high” or orange hazard zones, including The Shops at Montebello, and numerous homes and businesses, with “moderate” classification denoting an area that includes portions at and south of the 60 Freeway.

In orange “high” hazard zones, newly-constructed homes must meet stricter fire-resistant building standards and anyone selling a home there have to disclose the area’s elevated danger designation.

Residents in the “very high” hazard zones are subject to those rules as well as additional requirements, such as clearing brush in a 100-foot circle around their property. Aside from creating this defensible space around homes and buildings, these locations will face annual brush inspections.

The designations are based on factors such as terrain, vegetation and fire history.

First Street, a climate risk data company based in New York, found no historic records of wildfires in Montebello between 1984 to 2021. It designated the city’s overall risk for wildfire as moderate asof its latest report.

New builds must be designed with multiple evacuation routes, adequate water supply infrastructure and built-in fuel breaks.

The release of the updated maps, including which locations are covered by local fire departments and which fall under state responsibility, only fueled the impetus of the Whittier City Council, which ramped up its fire safety and hazard mitigation efforts after the Palisades and Eaton fires.

“We’re all on notice and now we know we have a lot of work to do,” Mayor Joe Vinatieri said the day after the updated maps’ release.

“We now have a situation in Whittier that is far more dangerous than it was previously in the prior maps,” he said.

He also said conditions in the city’s hillsides remain a threat for the entire Puente Hills area and wind-driven fires that decimated the Palisades and Altadena are possible in this corridor.

“We have a situation that is a regional problem now. This is much more than just the city of Whittier,” Vinatieri said.

Shannon DeLong, interim city manager for the city of Whittier, said staff will be working to make sure the updated maps are included as part of the city’s update to its Natural Hazard Mitigation Plan.

“We’re also working closely with Los Angeles County Fire Department to update County Fire Station 17, and we expect our newest heli-hydrant in our hills to be complete within the next six months,” she said.

Station 17 is at 12006 Hadley St. in Whittier, one of five Los Angeles County fire stations in the city, serving more than 86,000 people.

Andrea Gullo, executive director of the Puente Hills Habitat Preservation Authority, said in its March 20 meeting, the agency is creating a Hazards Mitigation Plan incorporating wildfires among other natural disasters. The successful passage of Measure PH on the November election will help the authority’s fire preparedness efforts too.

“Our ongoing efforts of annual fuel clearance, hazardous tree removals and habitat restoration will continue alongside our diligent collaboration with local fire departments,” Gullo added.

With funding, which included grants from CalFire itself as well as the Rivers and Mountains Conservancy, the Habitat Authority has conducted increased fuel management than ever before, including removing 425 dead, dying and hazardous trees along the urban wildland interface and emergency access routes; clearing defensible space from structures; maintaining drivable access routes; and conducting habitat restoration in 320 acres of the area’s preserve.

The Habitat Authority also brought in goats to graze in areas of the nature preserve in 2022, 2023 and 2024.

In the days after the Eaton Fire, Vinatieri and Councilmember Octavio Martinez visited the Habitat Authority nature preserve in the Puente Hills to highlight the risks of brush buildup and illegal fires in the area. City staff also remained on alert should they need to activate the Emergency Operations Center.

“We have our work cut out for us to put together plans to do as much as we can to minimize this,” Vinatieri said, adding partners in the efforts include the Los Angeles County Fire Department and the Puente Hills Habitat Preservation Authority, a public agency that manages more than 3,000 acres of preserved public open space from Rowland Heights, La Habra Heights, Hacienda Heights, Brea and Whittier.

Both cities have 120 days to accept public feedback on the maps. They have until July 22 to adopt the maps as their own designation.

You can find Cal Fire’s latest information online

SCNG staff writer Jeff Collins contributed to this report.