The Piedmont City Council on Monday night reaffirmed its commitment to treating all of Piedmont as a “Wildland-Urban Interface” zone, a designation that includes strict home-hardening requirements for new construction and expands fire-resistant construction requirements for major renovation projects.
“We’ve all seen the devastation of fires that have gotten to places that are not traditionally wildfire locations,” said Fire Chief Dave Brannigan at the meeting. With the updated city codes that the city gave initial approval to Monday night, he said the there will be a gradual move to harden more homes against wildfire. “We’re taking a leadership role by doing this,” said Brannigan.
Until this year, approximately 20 percent of Piedmont had been designated as a “very high fire hazard zone” by the state. Revised state maps this year no longer designate any portion of Piedmont in this zone, but the city said that given the city’s unique topography and geography, it makes sense to declare the entire city a Wildland Urban Interface Fire Area, a designation permitted at the discretion of the city, that enables it to adopt strict construction and vegetation management standards for all private property in Piedmont.
Piedmont’s topography and geography make the entire city susceptible to fires. Many structures are single-family dwellings built on sloping terrain that are often located in close proximity to one another (in many cases, less than 8 feet apart), allowing fires to spread easily, including upslope. Eliminating fuels from the immediate area surrounding a building and hardening structures to be more fire resistant can decrease the likelihood of a structure igniting during a wildfire.
Memo from Fire Chief Dave Brannigan to Mayor and City Council, November 17, 2025
Councilmember Jennifer Long asked how the change would impact local homeowners’ insurance policies.
Brannigan said it was not entirely clear, but noted that the California Department of Insurance says on its website that insurance companies do not use the Fire Hazard Severity Zone maps to determine how much to charge homeowners. Despite this assertion by the state, Brannigan told councilmembers that insurance companies do not readily share information about how they determine fire risk, and he would be seeking more information from the state before the second reading of the ordinance.
“I appreciate that we are going above and beyond in our safety precautions for fire,” said Trustee Conna McCarthy, “what has the community response been to your outreach efforts?”
Although the code updates related to new construction and major remodels, Brannigan said that peoples’ concerns — via surveys, at public events and city open houses — were mostly centered around what the stricter guidelines would mean for historic homes and the city’s often very large street trees, as well as regulations around “zone zero/ember free” zones — the 5-foot ember-resistant buffer zone directly around a structure that must be cleared of all combustible materials to prevent wildfire ignition.
During public comment, Piedmont High School senior Bill Ashton asked how the new ordinance would be publicized and enforced. Brannigan said the department would embark on more community outreach. He noted that homeowners will need to know the code when submitting plans for new construction or renovation, and that he and department fire fighters would be doing inspections.
“The vast majority of people are enthusiastic” about the preventative measures, he said, especially around vegetation management and building construction.
The city said in an earlier press release that “the long-term aim is to make Piedmont’s overall housing stock more wildfire resistant through steady progress over time as new homes are built and existing homes are renovated.”