Los Osos resident Patrick McGibney is worried about the future of his family’s small lavender farm in the grassy California Valley since the area isn’t protected by a hazard abatement ordinance.
“After looking at the fire dangers and hazards that happened in LA, that could happen easily out here in our grasslands, most of us can’t get fire insurance out here because of that situation,” he said. “But if we had an abatement ordinance that would help go a long way.”
McGibney wants such an ordinance to cover all unincorporated parts of San Luis Obispo County. About 72 percent of the county—including the California Valley—lies within the state responsibility area, meaning it’s up to the state to prevent and suppress wildland fires. Though no ordinance exists that requires property owners to trim tall grass and whack weeds, structures on these properties must have a defensible space around them for protection from potential fires.
While McGibney said he spends weeks abating weeds around his lavender farm through mowing and weed whacking, not all neighboring properties receive the same level of care. One such property, he said, is abandoned and contains two rat-infested trailers, many dead trees, and grass that hasn’t been mowed for years.
In 2021, a fire hit another property across the street from his farm.
Cal Fire, functioning as the contracted county fire department, arrived after McGibney called them.
“It had spread all through the lot and was going into the adjoining lot, cutting across the road to our lot,” he said. “They left thinking they put the fire out. I called them the next morning and told them the house was smoldering. So, they came again, and by the time they got here, the house was in complete flames.”
It took planes dropping retardant bombs to stop the fire, he said. McGibney believes if the flames crossed the street, they would have instantly blazed through the hip-high grass on the abandoned property, eventually making their way on to his farm.
If California Valley was bound by a hazard abatement ordinance at the time, the owner of the abandoned property would have been required to manage the vegetation—making a possible fire easier to extinguish.
McGibney added that the very recent Madre Fire, which burned through approximately 80,000 acres of the Cuyama Valley and Carrizo Plain National Monument, missed the California Valley because of eastward-facing winds.
In emails from 2023 between him and Cal Fire, Battalion Chief Zachary Nichols said that Cal Fire doesn’t abate properties. Instead, it conducts inspections to make sure defensible space exists around habitable structures. Four failed inspections result in a citation filed with the county District Attorney’s Office.
“Talking to your district supervisor and asking them to start an abatement program,” Nichols suggested as next steps to McGibney via email. “I receive hundreds of requests/complaints about this issue monthly.”
Nichols didn’t respond to New Times‘ request for comment.
Now, a proposal for a hazard abatement ordinance has landed on the SLO County Board of Supervisors’ desk. It doesn’t apply to California Valley where the state is financially responsible for fire prevention, but it focuses on improving fire safety in local responsibility areas made up by incorporated cities, urban regions, and some agricultural land.
Supervisors unanimously approved introducing the ordinance on July 8. A public hearing on the ordinance is scheduled for Aug. 19.
The proposed ordinance would expand the scope of the SLO County Fire Department’s fire hazard abatement authority. If adopted, the ordinance will cover 13,808 parcels in the county classified as local responsibility areas. The areas would then be subject to defensible space inspections.
The supervisors decided to introduce the ordinance this year as a result of updated fire hazard severity zone maps, which the State Fire Marshal released for SLO County on March 10.
“Local jurisdictions are encouraged to adopt the maps, which include more stringent defensible space standards and wildland-urban interface building codes required for properties located within those zones,” county Fire Chief John Owens said.
The maps came about after the 1991 Oakland Hills Fire when the State Fire Marshal had to evaluate fire hazard severity in local responsibility areas and make recommendations to local jurisdictions where “very high” zones exist. A 2021 amendment to state law required the State Fire Marshal to include “moderate” and “high” zones too.
As of 2025, the updated classifications for SLO County’s unincorporated areas are almost 3,000 acres in the “very high” zone, 17,773 in the “high” zone, and 18,709 acres in the “moderate” zone.
“Fire hazard severity zones are determined by factors like fire history, fuels, topography, which influence wildfire risks over a 30-to-50-year period,” county Battalion Chief Fire Marshall Kevin McLean told supervisors at the April 29 meeting. “These assessments do not account for the mitigation efforts like home hardening or fuel reduction.”
The State Fire Marshal’s updated map put more parts of SLO County in high fire zones, which left residents in different parts of the county concerned.
“This could have a major impact on insurance for people who didn’t live in the high priority area and now do, … especially for us who live in Atascadero,” Atascadero resident Gary Kirkland said at the April 8 meeting.
Morro Bay resident Betty Winholtz, who agreed with Kirkland about the ballooning insurance rate, pointed out that the map designated an uninhabited part of the coastal town as a fire hazard severity zone.
“They’re saying that the [beach] sand is in a hazard zone and yet our Embarcadero … is not even in any zone,” she told supervisors. “I know you don’t control the Morro Bay map but if they’re making what I consider errors in my town, there must be errors in the rest of the county.”
Fifth District Supervisor and SLO County Fire Safe Council President Heather Moreno told New Times that while she was pleased to learn that the countywide ordinance for local responsibility areas is in the works, she’s concerned about the maps for the region.
“The board has submitted a formal letter expressing concerns about the lack of transparency and public input in the map development process and the potential use of outdated or incomplete data, which could result in inaccurate designations and confusion for residents and property owners,” she said. “I’m committed to fire protection policies that are based on good data, clear communication, and real collaboration with our communities.” Δ
Reach Staff Writer Bulbul Rajagopal at brajagopal@newtimesslo.com.
This article appears in Jul 17-27, 2025.