Emerald Lake Hills, CA— fire, flood & earthquake hazard information
Emerald Lake Hills is a unincorporated community in San Mateo County in the San Francisco Bay Area, covering about 1.2 square miles. This page summarizes what official government maps show for Emerald Lake Hills: CAL FIRE fire hazard severity zones, FEMA flood zones, state seismic hazard zones, dam inundation areas, airport noise contours, and air-quality indicators. Figures are the share of Emerald Lake Hills’s area that falls inside each mapped zone.
View Emerald Lake Hills on the interactive map → to check any specific address, free.
Wildfire hazard severity zones
Per CAL FIRE's Fire Hazard Severity Zone maps, 96% of Emerald Lake Hills is in a Very High fire hazard severity zone, less than 1% is in a High zone, 3% is in a Moderate zone. The remainder of its area is outside currently designated zones.
| Very High severity zone | 96% |
| High severity zone | less than 1% |
| Moderate severity zone | 3% |
FEMA flood zones
FEMA's National Flood Hazard Layer does not map any Special Flood Hazard Areas within Emerald Lake Hills. Unmapped does not mean flooding cannot occur — it means no zone is currently designated.
Earthquake faults & seismic zones
The nearest mapped fault, the San Andreas fault zone, is about 1.3 mi (2.1 km) from the center of Emerald Lake Hills. 8% of its area is in a state-designated liquefaction zone of required investigation. 39% is in an earthquake-induced landslide zone.
| Nearest mapped fault | San Andreas fault zone — 1.3 mi (2.1 km) |
| Liquefaction zone | 8% |
| Earthquake-induced landslide zone | 39% |
Dam inundation, aircraft noise & air quality
less than 1% of Emerald Lake Hills lies within a state-reviewed dam-failure inundation area; annual average fine-particle (PM2.5) concentration across its census tracts is 8.0 μg/m³, and its composite pollution burden ranks around the 1th percentile statewide.
| Dam-failure inundation area | less than 1% |
| Annual PM2.5 (tract average) | 8.0 μg/m³ |
| Pollution burden percentile (statewide) | ~1 |
Frequently asked questions
- Is Emerald Lake Hills in a wildfire hazard severity zone?
- Per CAL FIRE's Fire Hazard Severity Zone maps, 96% of Emerald Lake Hills is in a Very High fire hazard severity zone, less than 1% is in a High zone, 3% is in a Moderate zone. The remainder of its area is outside currently designated zones.
- Is Emerald Lake Hills in a FEMA flood zone?
- FEMA's National Flood Hazard Layer does not map any Special Flood Hazard Areas within Emerald Lake Hills. Unmapped does not mean flooding cannot occur — it means no zone is currently designated.
- What earthquake faults and seismic zones affect Emerald Lake Hills?
- The nearest mapped fault, the San Andreas fault zone, is about 1.3 mi (2.1 km) from the center of Emerald Lake Hills. 8% of its area is in a state-designated liquefaction zone of required investigation. 39% is in an earthquake-induced landslide zone.
- How do I check a specific address in Emerald Lake Hills?
- Use the free sitelume interactive map at https://sitelume.com — search any Emerald Lake Hills address to see which mapped zones it falls in, layer by layer.
Nearby in San Mateo County
Sources: CAL FIRE Fire Hazard Severity Zones; FEMA National Flood Hazard Layer; USGS Quaternary Faults; CGS Seismic Hazard Zones & Alquist-Priolo zones; Cal OES dam inundation maps; county ALUC noise contours; CalEnviroScreen 4.0. Area shares are computed against each place’s Census TIGER boundary (last computed 2026-07-24). Boundaries and zone designations change; always verify with the issuing agency.