The basic facts:
In 2020, California enacted Assembly Bill 3074, mandating the creation of an “ember-resistant zone”—referred to as “Zone 0”—within five feet of structures in designated high fire hazard areas. This initiative aims to reduce the risk of homes igniting from wind-driven embers during wildfires, a leading cause of structural fires.
Despite the law’s passage, implementation has faced delays. Originally set to take effect in 2023, the regulations have not been finalized, leaving fire control districts, municipalities, builders, and homeowners uncertain about compliance requirements.
In response, Governor Gavin Newsom issued Executive Order N-18-25 in February 2025, directing the State Board of Forestry and Fire Protection to expedite the adoption of Zone 0 regulations. The goal is to have these regulations in place by the end of 2025.
Key Aspects of Zone 0:
Scope: Zone 0 encompasses the area within five feet of a structure, including attached decks and stairs.
Requirements: The regulations will likely prohibit combustible materials such as wooden fences, mulch, and flammable vegetation within this zone. Exceptions may include certain non-combustible items and well-maintained mature trees.
Applicability: Once finalized, the rules will apply immediately to new constructions - and permitted improvements - in State Responsibility Areas and Local Responsibility Areas with Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone ratings. Existing structures will have three years to achieve compliance.
Stakeholders:
Developing Zone 0 regulations involves collaboration among stakeholders, including CAL FIRE, the California Board of Forestry and Fire Protection, the Office of the State Fire Marshal, local governments, local fire agencies, insurance companies, electricity generators, and government/industry funded nonprofits. This collaborative approach is supposed to ensure that the regulations are practical and consider the diverse needs of California’s communities. What’s missing from this list? Homeowners!
Addressing Concerns:
Many homeowners have expressed concerns about the potential costs and quality of life impacts of complying with Zone 0 requirements. To address these concerns, community members here and elsewhere are asking to have their concerns taken seriously.
Our Take: (Zone Zero-Conejo Valley)
A one-size-fits-all approach fails to recognize the vast differences between homes in rural environments and the relatively small lots found in suburban communities. The new risk mitigation regulations should reflect these differences.
The Board of Forestry wants homeowners and communities to accept the Zone 0 regulations as a necessary sacrifice. They are minimizing the harms, ignoring scientific input that interferes with their views, and hoping to push these regulations through before the public catches on.
We are questioning the science behind the mandated removal of well irrigated, high moisture plants from Zone 0. Videos circulated by CAL FIRE and insurance companies are staged using very low moisture vegetation, creating the impression that well irrigated plants are a major reason for ember ignited house fires. It appears that millions of Southern California homes will be forced to make expensive, potentially harmful modifications to their properties if these regulatons are adopted.
Moving Forward:
Implementation of Zone 0 regulations can be an important step toward enhancing community fire resilience. Homeowners will cooperate if they are included in a process that has good science behind the mandates and flexibility in implementation that takes finances, protection of the environment, enjoyment, and reasonable use of property into account.
Explore this website for more information about common sense approaches to managing fire risk in the WUI.
Common sense asks:
● Exempt healthy, hydrated and well-maintained vegetation that is “not likely to be ignited by embers”: The moisture content of vegetation is far more predictive of fire spread than the presence of vegetation.
● Focus on maintenance and irrigation: Well-maintained and well-hydrated vegetation in Zone 0 is not a source of fire spread and is consistently shown to slow fire progress.
● Prioritize fire adapted native plant species as appropriate: Because they evolved with fire, some native plants offer protective qualities such as thicker bark and greater moisture retention that can limit a fire’s ability to spread.
● Explicitly exempt locally protected native trees and shrubs from all tree regulations: These plants are essential for biodiversity and in most cases, adapted to and resilient to fire.
● Explicitly exempt historic and heritage trees: These majestic trees can define a neighborhood and their size makes them unlikely to burn in a fast-moving wildfire.
● Explicitly exempt living municipal street trees: Live, well-maintained municipal street trees should not be subject to mandatory removal within Zone 0, consistent with current L.A. Municipal Fire Code. If well pruned and maintained the threat is minimal in most cases, but the loss of shade would be devastating, especially to tree-poor communities.
● Allocate targeted defensible space resources for dead tree removals and hazardous limb mitigation.
● Acknowledge and integrate urban water cycle benefits of street trees into defensible space and vegetation management policy.
● Allow for an appeals process: Special cases for particular trees or circumstances should be allowed the possibility of additional consideration.
● Move away from a one-size-fits-all approach: An urban area in chaparral vegetation should not be treated the same as a rural setting in a coniferous forest—the strategies to reduce fire risk are not the same and the risks are inherently different.
● Fund educational campaigns on vegetation management and home hardening: Because vegetation maintenance and home-hardening are more reliable predictors of survivability, funds should be directed to education in these areas.
● Give flexibility to local fire departments and their inspectors: Fire inspectors regularly assess the condition of vegetation and the likelihood it will contribute to the spread or intensity of a fire. We should respect their expertise and allow them to do their jobs.
● Ban artificial turf by name from defensible space: An earlier draft of the Zero Zero proposed regulations called for the ban of artificial turf from Zone Zero, but this was removed at the behest of lobbyists. Restore a ban for this product from all defensible space, as artificial turf has the highest heat generating index of any building material, and it releases toxic fumes during a fire that threaten the health of first responders.