Fire or Flood Zone? Reading a Brentwood Hazard Disclosure

The disclosure package shows up in the first week of escrow, and somewhere in the stack is a page with a "Yes" next to one of the fire lines. Buyers wonder whether they should walk. Sellers wonder whether the sale is in trouble.

Usually neither. But this is one of those forms everybody initials and almost nobody reads, on both sides of the table. So let's read it.

Every California home sale includes a Natural Hazard Disclosure covering six mapped hazards: FEMA flood, dam inundation, high or very high fire hazard severity zone, wildland fire area, earthquake fault zone, and seismic hazard zone. In Brentwood, a high or very high fire zone also means a defensible space inspection before escrow closes.

Does this apply to the house I'm buying?

Yes — the form comes with essentially every resale. The Natural Hazard Disclosure Statement is a one-page form written word-for-word into California Civil Code section 1103.2. The seller and the seller's agent sign it.

In practice, almost nobody fills it out by hand. The law lets the seller hire a disclosure company to research the maps and prepare a report, and that's what happens on nearly every Brentwood sale I see. It lands in your disclosure package early, while you still have contingencies.

What the form is matters as much as what it says. It's a disclosure of what's on a map — not an inspection, not an opinion about the house, and not a prediction. The statute prints that in capital letters: the maps "estimate where natural hazards exist" and are "not definitive indicators" of whether a property will be affected by a natural disaster.

The six lines on the form

What the Natural Hazard Disclosure asks

Each line gets a Yes or a No:

• Special Flood Hazard Area — any FEMA Zone "A" or "V"
• Area of potential flooding — on a dam failure inundation map
• High or very high Fire Hazard Severity Zone — as identified by the State Fire Marshal
• Wildland area — one that may contain substantial forest fire risks and hazards
• Earthquake fault zone — mapped surface-rupture zones
• Seismic hazard zone — mapped landslide or liquefaction

A "Yes" is not a verdict on the house. It means a line on a government map touches the parcel, and you're entitled to know that before you remove contingencies.

The flood line is the one with a direct cost. FEMA says homeowners in high-risk flood areas with mortgages from federally regulated or insured lenders are required to buy flood insurance. A "Yes" there is a conversation with your lender and your insurance agent, this week.

Why Brentwood's fire maps changed in 2025

If the last time you read one of these reports was before mid-2025, the fire lines may not look the way you remember.

The State Fire Marshal identified a new Fire Hazard Severity Zone map for the City of Brentwood dated February 24, 2025. The Contra Costa County Fire Protection District adopted the updated maps, and they became effective July 10, 2025.

The big change: state law now requires moderate, high, and very high zones to be mapped. The previous maps for cities only showed very high. So the 2025 maps can include areas that were never designated before — not because anything about the land changed, but because the state widened what it maps. The district also can't soften a designation; Government Code section 51179 bars a local agency from lowering a zone the State Fire Marshal assigned.

Looking at the Brentwood map itself, most of the city's interior is unzoned. The designated land runs along the western and southern edges, toward the hills. That's exactly where buyers should slow down and look parcel by parcel.

What happens if the house is in a high fire zone?

This is the local wrinkle, and it has real calendar days attached.

When a parcel with a structure sells in a high or very high Fire Hazard Severity Zone, the seller has to give the buyer documentation that the property passed a defensible space inspection. Contra Costa County Ordinance 2023-07, Section 4, puts it simply: before the close of escrow, the seller provides documentation from the Fire Code Official that the parcel complies with the fuel mitigation requirements.

The inspection looks at three zones around the house:

• 0 to 5 feet — the ember-resistant zone, and the strictest
• 5 to 30 feet — "lean, clean and green"
• 30 to 100 feet — fuel reduction

An initial inspection takes one to two hours on site, and nobody has to be home. The timing is what catches people. The request starts with an email to the district, then an application and a fee, and the district says that process can take up to five working days before an inspector calls to schedule. A re-inspection adds more.

How do I check an address myself?

You can do this free, in about ten minutes, before you write an offer:

1. Flood — search the address on FEMA's Flood Map Service Center.
2. Earthquake fault and seismic — the California Geological Survey's EQ Zapp tells you whether an address sits in a mapped fault rupture, liquefaction, or earthquake-induced landslide zone.
3. Fire — CAL FIRE's Fire Hazard Severity Zone viewer, or the Brentwood map as a PDF. You can also email the address to the fire district at info@cccfpd.org and ask.

Don't go by the neighbor's report. These boundaries follow terrain and vegetation, not property lines, and they can run right down the middle of a street.

What I learned about this form on the escrow side

Brentwood's fire service has been the Contra Costa County Fire Protection District since the East Contra Costa Fire Protection District was annexed, effective June 30, 2022. If you have an older report or an old contact name, that's why it may not match.

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Found a house and want to know what its hazard report will say before you're in contract? Send me the address. I'll look up the flood, fire, and seismic maps with you and tell you whether a defensible space inspection is coming — call or text (925) 200-0717.

Hazard zone maps, disclosure rules, and local ordinances change, and the answer depends on the specific parcel. Confirm your address with the agencies linked above. This post is general information, not legal advice — talk with a real estate attorney about your situation.

Margie Lupo, Broker Associate, SRES® · eXp Realty of Northern California, Inc. · DRE #01193496 · Brokerage DRE #02188495 · Equal Housing Opportunity

Sources

• California Civil Code § 1103.2 — the Natural Hazard Disclosure Statement, its six hazard lines, the "Yes" rule for unclear maps, Letters of Map Revision, and limits on who may use the disclosure. Current as of January 1, 2026. Accessed October 2026.
• California Civil Code § 1103.8 — the disclosure does not limit other disclosure obligations. Accessed October 2026.
• California Government Code § 51178 and § 51179 — moderate, high, and very high zones; local agencies may not decrease a zone. Accessed October 2026.
• Contra Costa County Fire Protection District, Local Responsibility Area Maps — updated maps effective July 10, 2025; previous maps showed very high only. Accessed October 2026.
• CAL FIRE, City of Brentwood LRA Fire Hazard Severity Zones map — as identified by the State Fire Marshal, February 24, 2025. Accessed October 2026.
• Contra Costa County Fire Protection District, Real Property Transfer Inspection (AB 38) — inspection trigger, County Ordinance 2023-07 § 4, defensible space zones, timing, and the one-year buyer agreement. Accessed October 2026.
• FEMA, Flood Maps and Zones Explained — flood insurance requirement in high-risk areas. Accessed October 2026.
• California Geological Survey, EQ Zapp — address lookup for earthquake hazard zones. Accessed October 2026.
• CC News, Con Fire annexes East Contra Costa Fire — annexation effective June 30, 2022. Accessed October 2026.