New draft Zone Zero regulations released

The board committed to releasing the final regulations in mid-July

By Jolena Voorhis, legislative advocate (public safety)

In late April, a Board of Forestry subcommittee held a public hearing on the latest draft Zone Zero regulation — landscaping rules for the first five feet around a home or structure in fire-prone areas. The revised proposal includes significant changes, including allowing a phased-in approach for existing buildings.

Specifically, it gives property owners three years to create a 1-foot safety zone around their homes and five years to create a zone around larger structures, such as gates, fences, and sheds. The safety zone is a buffer around a structure with more stringent requirements than the rest of Zone Zero, such as the removal of all vegetation.

Other key changes include allowing well-maintained trees, vegetation, and plants in the area outside the safety zone. Property owners would need to trim trees to help prevent fires from climbing from the tree and into the structure.

The proposal also allows fire agencies within Local Responsibility Areas to adopt different rules within five years that “provide substantially similar practical effects to the regulations” for the five-year phase.

Homeowners, fire chiefs, and other stakeholders provided approximately four hours of public comments, with many raising familiar concerns over whether or not the revised rules went far enough. Others voiced concerns about the new changes. Fire chiefs and some stakeholders called for more robust rules, noting that the change to the Local Responsibility Areas puts the onus on local agencies, not the state, for additional changes or variations to the timeframe, as well as potential inspection and enforcement.

The Board of Forestry announced a preliminary timeline for adopting the regulations, with the goal of adopting them by mid-July. The board has been reviewing the regulations for over a year, as requested by Gov. Gavin Newsom. However, the board paused the rulemaking process in December to conduct more research and address concerns raised over native trees and vegetation.

If your city has concerns with the new draft of these regulations, please send your comments to the Board of Forestry, PublicComments@bof.ca.go.