Ready for fire season, wherever you live in the valley

Agoura Hills

Most of Agoura Hills is wildland fire country. On CAL FIRE's 2025 Fire Hazard Severity Zone map, as shown in the city's GIS, about 6.1 of the city's 7.8 square miles are Very High. About 0.6 square mile is High, about 0.6 is Moderate, and roughly half a square mile is non-wildland. Unincorporated Cornell, Malibou Lake, Seminole Springs and the Triunfo/Lobo canyons sit in steep Santa Monica Mountains terrain; look those addresses up in CAL FIRE's FHSZ viewer (osfm.fire.ca.gov).

Evacuation zones: the city's Evacuation Plan (September 2020, updated November 2022) divides Agoura Hills into nine zones, AGO-C301 through AGO-C309. Each zone has an assigned exit route, mostly to US 101 by way of Reyes Adobe Rd, Kanan Rd, Agoura Rd or Liberty Canyon Rd; one zone heads north on Kanan Rd toward Lindero Canyon Rd. Chesebro Rd is also a main evacuation route, and Old Agoura has its own section and map in the plan. Zones are kept in Genasys Protect (formerly Zonehaven). Go to protect.genasys.com, enter your address and write down your zone ID, because warnings and orders are issued by zone. Unincorporated areas have Los Angeles County zones in the same system. A state-required Draft Evacuation Analysis (December 2025) went to the City Council in May 2026. The city says it studies route capacity and is not a new evacuation plan, so the 2020 plan stays in effect.

Alerts: sign up for AH Alert, the city's text, phone and email notifications (accountportal.onsolve.net), and for Alert LA County (ready.lacounty.gov). The city also points residents to Watch Duty, SCE's power shutoff notices and Ventura County's VC Alert for the Oak Park side.

Past fires: the October 1978 Agoura–Malibu firestorm burned from the Agoura and Cornell area toward the coast. On November 8, 2018 the Woolsey Fire (96,949 acres, 1,643 structures, three deaths) forced the evacuation of all of Agoura Hills, Oak Park and Malibou Lake. It crossed the 101 overnight and destroyed more than 100 of the roughly 215 homes at Seminole Springs, dozens at Malibou Lake and most of Paramount Ranch's Western Town. In January 2025 the Kenneth Fire, east of town, brought evacuation warnings to parts of neighboring Oak Park.

Preparing: the city has a Community Wildfire Protection Plan and a community wildfire risk assessment project. Its preparedness page explains defensible-space zones. With the Agoura Hills Fire Safe Council it offers free ember-resistant vent mesh while supplies last (agourahillsfsc.org).

Oak Park

Hazard zones: The 2023 Oak Park Community Wildfire Risk Assessment notes that CAL FIRE's November 2007 map put the entire Oak Park planning area in a Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone. CAL FIRE's current maps cover state-responsibility land and the local-responsibility map released in March 2025. On those maps, most of Oak Park and the wildland around it is still Very High, while a few blocks on the older valley floor near Kanan Road and Medea Creek are rated High or Moderate. Federal parkland at the north edge has no state rating. Check a specific address on CAL FIRE's Fire Hazard Severity Zone viewer.

Fire history and response: Large fires in the Oak Park area include Simi Hills (1949), Clampitt (September 1970), Dayton Canyon (October 1982), Topanga (2005) and Woolsey (November 8-9, 2018). The Woolsey Fire destroyed 16 Oak Park homes and damaged as many as 100. Most were on the north and east edges, in line with the Santa Ana winds, but embers also reached interior streets. Ventura County Fire Station 36 at 855 Deerhill Rd. is the local station, and LA County Fire provides automatic aid on wildland fires.

Brush clearance: Under the county Fire Hazard Reduction Program, notices go out around April 20, and the clearance deadline is June 1. The usual requirement is 100 feet of clearance around structures and 10 feet along road access. RSRPD and the HOAs maintain fuel clearance along much of the open space edge.

Evacuation: Only Kanan Road and Lindero Canyon Road lead out, both to the south and west. As of the 2023 CWPP, Oak Park had no officially designated evacuation corridors or temporary safe refuge areas. Ventura County does not publish pre-set evacuation zones, so there is no zone number to look up ahead of time. During an incident, the Sheriff's Office of Emergency Services draws the evacuation areas with fire and law agencies. It announces them through VC Alert and at VCEmergency.com, which includes a live incident map.

Alerts: Sign up for VC Alert (free; phone, text, email or TTY, in English and Spanish) at vcalert.org or ready.venturacounty.gov/vc-alert, or by calling (888) 772-4482. The Oak Park Fire Safe Council (opfsc.org) offers free home ignition-zone assessments, and seven Oak Park associations are recognized Firewise USA communities.

Westlake Village

Westlake spans two counties, so it has two sets of emergency systems.

City of Westlake Village (Los Angeles County): Los Angeles County Fire Station 144 on Foxfield Drive covers the city. In March 2025 the state updated Los Angeles County's Local Responsibility Area fire hazard maps, which put some city neighborhoods in moderate, high or very high zones. Check any address with the Office of the State Fire Marshal's FHSZ viewer (osfm.fire.ca.gov). Evacuations are called by zone through Genasys Protect, and city zone IDs begin with "WLV-" (for example, WLV-C201). Look up your zone at protect.genasys.com (the city's "Know Your Zone" link) and keep a note of it. Sign up for the city's Blackboard Connect alerts at westlakevillage.bbcportal.com. The city publishes a Community Wildfire Protection Plan and annual weed-abatement and brush-clearance rules. It is also running an AB 747 evacuation analysis that studies corridors including Lindero Canyon Road and US-101; the results will go into the Hazards chapter of its General Plan.

Thousand Oaks side (Ventura County): the Ventura County Fire Department responds, including from Station 37 in North Ranch, which opened in 2001. Register for VC Alert, the county's free notification system (English and Spanish, by phone, text, email or TTY), at ready.venturacounty.gov/vc-alert, by emailing vc.alert@ventura.org or by calling 888-772-4482. Evacuation warnings and orders go out through VC Alert, door-to-door notice, Wireless Emergency Alerts and broadcast media, and temporary evacuation points are posted on VCemergency.com. Keep your VC Alert registration current and follow VCemergency.com's incident map during a fire. Hillside streets in Westlake and North Ranch and homes along the COSCA open space border wildland. Check the state FHSZ maps and the Ventura County Fire Department's Ready, Set, Go! guidance on defensible space.

The November 2018 Woolsey Fire affected the community, and the city links an after-action report on the fire from its emergency page. For current incidents, check the city's alert page, Genasys Protect and VCemergency.com.

Lake Sherwood & Hidden Valley

Fire hazard zones: The whole area is in the State Responsibility Area. CAL FIRE's current Fire Hazard Severity Zone map (effective 2024) rates the Lake Sherwood community, Carlisle Canyon and most of Potrero Road Very High, and parts of the open Hidden Valley floor High. Ventura County Fire explains the map at fire.venturacounty.gov. Its Ready, Set, Go! guide covers defensible space and home hardening: fire.venturacounty.gov. Station 33 on Lake Sherwood Drive is the local station.

Evacuation zones: Ventura County does not assign permanent evacuation zone numbers, so you cannot look up a zone in advance. Officials define the evacuation area for each incident and announce it in these places: - VC Alert messages - VCEmergency.com (emergency.venturacounty.gov) - the county's real-time incident dashboard and map (vcoes.maps.arcgis.com)

Officials may also notify residents door to door, through Wireless Emergency Alerts and through broadcast emergency alerts. The county's evacuation terminology page explains orders, warnings and shelter-in-place: emergency.venturacounty.gov. Neighboring Los Angeles County's Genasys Protect zones stop at the county line, so they do not cover these neighborhoods. Separately, the area plan directs the Sheriff to keep a warning and evacuation plan in case the Lake Sherwood dam fails.

Alert sign-up: Register for VC Alert, which is free, at member.everbridge.net, or call 888-772-4482. More information is at ready.venturacounty.gov.

Major fires in CAL FIRE perimeter records: - 1956: Sherwood/Zuma Fire (December 28), across much of today's Lake Sherwood. - 1977: Carlisle Fire (November). - 1985: Sherwood Fire (June 30), south and east of the lake. - 1993: Green Meadows Fire (October 26), across the hills on Hidden Valley's south side and Carlisle Canyon. - 2013: Springs Fire (May 2), into the west end of Hidden Valley. - 2018: Woolsey Fire (November 8), along the mountain ridges on the area's southern edge.

Thousand Oaks

The Ventura County Fire Department protects all of Thousand Oaks, including the unincorporated pockets. Stations with Thousand Oaks addresses include 30 (W. Hillcrest Dr.), 31 (Duesenberg Dr.), 34 (Mountclef Blvd., in a new building that opened in March 2025), 37 (Upper Ranch Rd.) and 38 (Avenida de los Arboles, the older station near Moorpark Road, renumbered 38 in 2025). Many neighborhoods back onto brush-covered open space.

Hazard zones: the state rates land as Moderate, High or Very High fire hazard severity zones. On March 10, 2025, the State Fire Marshal released recommended Local Responsibility Area fire hazard severity maps for Ventura County. ABC7 reported that Thousand Oaks, Moorpark and Simi Valley had the most very-high-hazard acreage among the county's cities. The Ventura County Fire Protection District board adopted the maps as Ordinance 33 on May 20, 2025, effective July 1, 2025; State Responsibility Area zones had taken effect April 1, 2024. Look up a parcel on VCFD's 2025 Combined SRA & LRA FHSZ Map Viewer (experience.arcgis.com). If a parcel falls in more than one zone, the highest zone applies to the whole parcel.

Evacuations: Ventura County does not publish fixed neighborhood evacuation zones, so there is no zone to look up ahead of time. When an incident begins, county emergency managers and the incident commander draw evacuation areas for that event. They announce them through VC Alert and post maps and the incident dashboard on VC Emergency (emergency.venturacounty.gov). California uses standard terms. An Evacuation Warning means leave early if you need extra time or have pets or livestock. An Evacuation Order means leave now, and the area is closed. Shelter in Place means stay indoors. Sheriff's patrol cars sound a Hi-Lo siren to announce evacuation orders. The city's preparedness page links the February 2025 Tri-City Emergency Evacuation Awareness Plan, written with Moorpark and Simi Valley. Its Thousand Oaks route maps are on pages 57-61. VCFD and the Ventura County Fire Safe Council offer home wildfire assessments.

Alerts: sign up for VC Alert, which is free, at readyventuracounty.org or by phone at 888-772-4482. Landline numbers in the 911 database are already included, so registering mainly adds cell phones and email; alerts can arrive by call, text, email or TTY, in English or Spanish. Wireless Emergency Alerts also reach every phone in range with no sign-up. Apps such as Watch Duty draw on VC Emergency and on radio traffic relayed by volunteers, but county emergency managers name VC Emergency as the official source for incident information. Questions go to the county Office of Emergency Services at 805-322-4676. In red-flag weather, Southern California Edison may cut power under its Public Safety Power Shutoff program (sce.com).

Recent history: in November 2018 the Woolsey Fire spread into parts of Thousand Oaks and badly damaged the grounds of the Chumash Indian Museum at Oakbrook Regional Park.

Newbury Park

Hazard zones: - CAL FIRE's Local Responsibility Area map, released March 24, 2025 and shown on the city's GIS, rates much of Newbury Park's hillside edge Very High. That includes Dos Vientos, Rancho Conejo Village, OakRidge Estates, Deer Ridge, Potrero Valley, Arbor Hills and most of Lynn Oaks. - Some streets at the edges of those neighborhoods are rated High or Moderate instead. Flatter central tracts, including most of Casa Conejo, fall outside the mapped zones, though the Casa Conejo blocks nearest US 101 are rated Moderate to Very High. - Unincorporated upper Ventu Park is in the State Responsibility Area and is rated Very High. - Ratings change from block to block. Check an address on the state's Fire Hazard Severity Zone viewer (osfm.fire.ca.gov) or on the city or county GIS.

Evacuation zones: - Ventura County does not publish pre-set evacuation zones, so there is no zone number to look up ahead of time. Genasys Protect, the zone map neighboring Los Angeles County uses, does not cover Newbury Park. - When an incident begins, the Sheriff's Office of Emergency Services and the incident commander draw evacuation areas for that event. Those areas are named in alerts and posted, along with temporary evacuation points, on VCEmergency (emergency.venturacounty.gov) and its incident dashboard.

Alerts: - Register for VC Alert, the county's free notification system, at vcalert.org or ready.venturacounty.gov (888-772-4482). It sends warnings by phone, text and email in English and Spanish to the addresses you register. - Warnings also arrive through Wireless Emergency Alerts, broadcast Emergency Alert System messages, and door-to-door notice from public safety crews. - SCE may cut power to some circuits during Santa Ana wind events (Public Safety Power Shutoffs). - For preparation advice, see the fire department's Ready, Set, Go! page: fire.venturacounty.gov

Fire service: Ventura County Fire Department, from Station 32 (830 Reino Rd.) and Station 35 (751 Mitchell Rd.).

Fire history (CAL FIRE perimeter records): - 1955 Ventu Park Fire: about 14,000 acres. - 1980 Hill Canyon Fire: about 12,000 acres. - 1993 Green Meadows Fire: about 38,500 acres. - 2013 Springs Fire: about 24,000 acres in the hills around town; no structures in Newbury Park were lost. - 2018 Hill Fire (Nov. 8): about 4,381 acres, with 4 structures destroyed and 2 damaged. It started in Santa Rosa Valley about 20 minutes before the Woolsey Fire, and most of Newbury Park was evacuated for two to three days.

Santa Rosa Valley

Fire hazard: CAL FIRE/OSFM maps put nearly every home in the valley in a Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone. Most neighborhoods, including Rancho Santa Rosa, Presilla Road, Bridlewood, Hidden Meadows, Lexington Hills, Santa Rosa Highlands and Camelot Estates, fall under the State Responsibility Area map that took effect April 1, 2024. The western valley floor falls under the 2025 Local Responsibility Area map, which the Ventura County Fire Protection District adopted in Ordinance 33 (approved May 20, 2025, effective July 1, 2025). Most of that western area is mapped Very High, including Yucca Drive, Las Brisas Drive, Glenside Lane, Charisma Court, Chippenham Road and Principe Place. A smaller pocket around Highridge Court, Duval Road and Breese Drive, plus parts of Barbara Drive, Blanchard Road and Glenside Lane, is mapped High. If a parcel touches more than one zone, VCFD applies the highest zone to the whole parcel. Look up a parcel in the county's 2025 Combined SRA & LRA FHSZ Map Viewer: experience.arcgis.com.

Evacuation zones: the Sheriff's Office of Emergency Services keeps pre-planned evacuation zones, but the county does not offer a standing zone lookup. Its public zone layer stays empty until warnings or orders are issued. During an incident, the affected zones and lists of current warnings and orders appear on VC Emergency (emergency.venturacounty.gov, also reachable at VCEmergency.com). An Evacuation Warning means get ready because danger may be approaching. Anyone who needs extra time, including people moving horses or other large animals, should leave early. An Evacuation Order means leave immediately. The county also issues Shelter-in-Place orders. Its terminology page is emergency.venturacounty.gov. You do not have to wait for an alert to leave if conditions feel unsafe.

Alerts: sign up for VC Alert, the county's free address-based system, at vcalert.org (ready.venturacounty.gov), by calling 888-772-4482 or by emailing vc.alert@ventura.org. Alerts go out by phone, text, email or TTY, in English and Spanish, to registered addresses in the affected area. VCFD also points residents to the nonprofit Watch Duty app for wildfire maps, though it is not run by the county.

Recent fires and outages: the Hill Fire started November 8, 2018 at Hill Canyon Road and Santa Rosa Road. CAL FIRE reports it burned 4,381 acres, destroyed 4 structures and damaged 2. At a 2023 advisory council meeting on Edison power shutoffs, residents said the power was out for 17 hours on Thanksgiving 2021 and 10 hours on Thanksgiving 2022.

Preparedness: a Santa Rosa Valley Firewise committee formed by early 2024 aims to bring all of the valley's roughly 1,150 homes to Firewise USA recognition, neighborhood by neighborhood. Hidden Meadows had finished its risk assessment by March 2025. Advisory council members have also suggested using Santa Rosa Valley Park as a staging area for horses during emergencies.

Moorpark

Fire protection comes from the Ventura County Fire Department. - Station 40, 4185 Cedar Springs St. in Mountain Meadows, was built in 1989 to cover west Moorpark and has run a paramedic engine since 2005. - Station 42, 295 E. High St., covers central and east Moorpark. The town's station dates to 1931 and moved into its current building in 2004.

Hazard zones: - The State Fire Marshal's 2025 Fire Hazard Severity Zone map for local-responsibility land puts most of Moorpark in the Very High zone. That includes downtown, Carlsberg, Buttercreek, most of the college area, and the northern hill neighborhoods (Moorpark Highlands, Meridian Hills, the Country Club Estates and Gabbert). The middle of Peach Hill and parts of Mountain Meadows are mapped as High, Moderate or non-wildland. - The open hills outside the city, including the land around Moorpark Home Acres and the slopes above Moorpark Highlands, are State Responsibility Area. Most of that land is rated Very High on the state map in effect since April 1, 2024. - To check an address, use the OSFM Fire Hazard Severity Zone viewer (linked from osfm.fire.ca.gov). A Very High rating brings stricter building and defensible-space rules, and it must be disclosed when a home is sold.

Evacuations: - The Ventura County Sheriff's Office of Emergency Services issues evacuation warnings and orders. They go out through VC Alert, Wireless Emergency Alerts, broadcast radio and TV, and door-to-door notices, and appear on VC Emergency (vcemergency.com). - The county's incident map shows pre-planned evacuation zones while a warning or order is active. During an incident, go by the area described in each alert and on the VC Emergency map. - The city's evacuation routes map, part of the 2025 Tri-Cities Emergency Evacuation Awareness Plan shared with Simi Valley and Thousand Oaks, splits Moorpark into four route areas: Northern, Northeastern, Southern and Dalaway Drive. Each has primary and secondary routes. These areas are for route planning, not alert zones.

Alerts: register for VC Alert, the county's free emergency notification system, at vcalert.org or 888-772-4482. SCE Public Safety Power Shutoff information is linked from the city's Emergency Management page.

Recent fires: - The November 2024 Mountain Fire started on Balcom Canyon Road north of Somis, west of Moorpark. It burned about 19,900 acres and destroyed 243 structures, many of them in Camarillo Heights. - The hills of Happy Camp Canyon Regional Park have burned more than once, including in the 2009 Guiberson Fire and the 2013 Happy Camp Fire.

Simi Valley

Brush-covered hills ring the city, so neighborhoods along the edges, from Wood Ranch, Long Canyon and Bridle Path in the south to Big Sky, Wild Horse Canyon, Indian Hills and Silverthorne in the north and the Knolls, Box Canyon and Lake Manor in the east, sit right against wildland. Recent fires show the pattern: the 2003 Simi Fire (October 25 to November 5) burned about 108,204 acres and destroyed 37 homes; the 2018 Woolsey Fire started November 8 near the Santa Susana Field Laboratory; the 2019 Easy Fire burned 1,806 acres around the Reagan Library; and the May 2026 Sandy Fire burned 2,183 acres south of the city, destroyed one home and put tens of thousands of people under evacuation orders in Simi Valley, Bell Canyon and nearby Los Angeles County.

Hazard zones: The Ventura County Fire Protection District adopted the State Fire Marshal's updated Fire Hazard Severity Zones for local responsibility areas on May 20, 2025 (effective July 1, 2025); the state-area zones took effect April 1, 2024. Look up an address in the county's combined FHSZ map viewer (experience.arcgis.com); where a parcel spans two zones, the higher one applies. Those zones carry defensible-space and building-code rules.

Evacuation zones: Ventura County does not publish a standing map of pre-set evacuation zones or routes. When an incident starts, county emergency services duty officers and the incident commander draw and name the zones (during the Sandy Fire they carried labels such as 'Simi Valley 32-A' and 'BOXC-02'). Evacuated areas and routes are announced in alerts and posted on the VC Emergency website (emergency.venturacounty.gov) and its incident dashboard (vcoes.maps.arcgis.com). Homes just across the line in Los Angeles County use that county's own zone names. Orders and warnings arrive through VC Alert, Wireless Emergency Alerts, broadcast radio and TV, and door-to-door notice; the county's incident information hotline is (805) 465-6650.

Alerts and planning: Sign up every household phone for VC Alert at member.everbridge.net (details at ready.venturacounty.gov, or call 888-772-4482), and keep Wireless Emergency Alerts turned on in your phone's settings, as the county recommends. Ventura County Fire's Ready, Set, Go! guide (fire.venturacounty.gov) covers defensible space, home hardening and go-bags. Many residents also follow the nonprofit Watch Duty app, which is not affiliated with the fire department. Parks and trails run by MRCA and California State Parks close during Red Flag Warnings.