In January 2025, the Palisades Fire grew from 10 acres to 200 acres in 20 minutes. More than 11,000 people had to evacuate at once on roads designed for ordinary traffic.
Cupertino is not Los Angeles. But Linda Vista Drive sits in an area Cal Fire designates as a Very High Fire Hazard Zone, and its aging infrastructure remains unchanged despite escalating risks.
The survivable window in a fast-moving wildfire is approximately 30 minutes. However, independent modeling by a neighbor — veteran engineer and professor of engineering DerChang Kau — using road geometry, household counts and standard evacuation modeling assumptions estimated that Linda Vista residents would need 93 minutes to reach safety.
Kau wasn’t trying to make a political point, but simply wanted to understand how long his family and others would realistically have to get out. The city has produced no corridor evacuation analysis of its own to contradict it.
Kau’s estimate wasn’t a theoretical concern nor the only warning sign. It turns out, Cupertino knew this. Last October, the city received its own expert study from Fehr and Peers. The study found evacuation demand on key corridors serving this neighborhood exceed 200% of roadway capacity.
The city had it for nearly five months before the Feb. 24 Planning Commission hearing where a proposed 51-townhome development on a 2.53-acre site on Linda Vista Drive was approved in a narrow 3-2 vote.
Despite its direct relevance to evacuation capacity in this Very High Fire Hazard Zone, the Fehr and Peers study was neither presented nor discussed at that hearing.
Cupertino needs housing. No one in this neighborhood disputes it. The question before the City Council is this: Should the council vote to finalize a project when the city’s own technical findings about evacuation capacity were never formally entered into the record of the proceeding that approved it? In an area designated by Cal Fire as a Very High Fire Hazard Zone?
That is not a radical request. State law, including Senate Bill 330, gives housing projects certain procedural protections once an application is filed. But reviewing the city’s own commissioned safety study and addressing its findings before finalizing a decision is not the same as changing development rules. It is simply part of making a complete record on a public safety question.
Residents are asking the council to review its own commissioned data before a decision affecting fire evacuation becomes permanent. They are asking that the Fehr and Peers findings be entered into the record before any final decision is made. The data should be on the table. That is what due diligence looks like in a fire risk community in 2026.
The city council votes on March 17. If you believe a city should consult its own safety data before decisions affecting human lives become permanent, write to your council at [email protected] before the decision.
What Cupertino decides now will signal whether its planning process is prepared for the fire risk realities that California communities can no longer afford to treat as theoretical.
Kau did the math. The city paid for a study. Both deserve to be part of the official record.
David Yan is a Cupertino resident. He lives in the Linda Vista neighborhood with his family.