Public Comment Period Now Open for Two Important Plans

Published on April 11, 2025

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The City of Palo Alto is seeking public comment on two plans providing the framework to coordinate response to major emergencies and disasters and a planning framework for fire control activities for the Palo Alto Foothills Area, this is integrated with the Community Wildfire Protection Plan. The comment period deadline is May 4, 2025.    

1. The Emergency Operations Plan (EOP) outlines how the City of Palo Alto—its government, stakeholder agencies, community groups, business community, and residents—coordinate its response to major emergencies and disasters. By the California Government Code 8610, each jurisdiction in the State with an accredited disaster council is required to have a City Council adopted Emergency Operations Plan.  This basic plan is a format that meets federal and state level planning requirements, provides strategic direction for the manner in which the city prepares for and responds to major emergencies and disasters, and describes the emergency management framework the city employs when needed.  

Following the public comment period, the City will finalize this document so that we may present it to the City's Emergency Services Council, followed by City Council adoption later in 2025.

Review the EOP(PDF, 2MB)

Provide Comments to the EOP  

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2.  The City developed a Foothills Fire Management Plan (FFMP) in 1982 that provides the planning framework for fire control activities for the City and the Palo Alto Foothills Area which comprises the predominant wildland urban interface (WUI) area for the community. This plan addresses a broad range of integrated activities and planning documents to address and mitigate the impacts of fire hazards in the area west of Foothills Expressway to the City limits of Palo Alto.  The City has updated this plan three times: in 1997, 2009, and 2016. 

Also in 2016, Santa Clara County Fire Department developed a multi-jurisdictional Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP) to establish strategic goals for these more detailed community level fire-planning efforts. This included a Palo Alto jurisdictional annex that accompanied this plan, but apart from the FFMP.  During the County’s substantive 2023 CWPP update process, the City made the decision to integrate the FFMP with the CWPP to provide one wildfire management plan for the community.

This 2025 Update includes these primary components:  

  • Describes the planning environment
  • Discusses actions taken since the previous update in 2016
  • Provides an updated wildfire risk hazard assessment
  • Recommends new fuel treatment actions
  • Includes public education and outreach efforts
  • Lists wildfire mitigation projects the City will endeavor to complete
  • Identifies vegetation treatment standards and methods

Once this plan is completed, the City will add it as a jurisdictional annex to the Santa Clara County CWPP, available on their website.

Review the CWPP/FFMP

Provide Comments to the CWPP/FFMP

As a reminder, the public comment period for the State's Fire Hazard Map closes on April 30. Learn more. 

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