SACRAMENTO, Calif. — In response to the catastrophic wildfires that ravaged Los Angeles in January, destroying thousands of homes, California Governor Gavin Newsom announced on Thursday his plan to expedite long-overdue regulations aimed at reducing fire risks for homeowners in high-risk areas.
The regulations, initially approved by state lawmakers in 2020, mandate that homeowners clear combustible materials like dead plants and wooden furniture within a five-foot perimeter of their homes. Originally set to be implemented by January 1, 2023, the rules remain unwritten, with the California Board of Forestry and Fire Protection providing no definitive timeline for their completion. Governor Newsom’s executive order, expected to be signed following his advocacy trip to Washington for disaster aid, seeks to accelerate the process.
The delay in implementing these regulations has drawn criticism from lawmakers who sponsored the original legislation. Experts suggest that adherence to these guidelines could have mitigated the damage caused by the Palisades Fire, the most destructive in Los Angeles city history. The fire, exacerbated by hurricane-force winds, obliterated at least 5,000 structures across areas such as Pacific Palisades, Malibu, and Topanga Canyon.
Under Newsom’s proposal, existing homes would have a three-year window to comply with the new regulations. Although it remains uncertain how many homes could have been saved, experts agree that clearing the immediate vicinity of homes might have lessened the fire’s impact.
California Natural Resources Secretary Wade Crowfoot stated, “These steps will spur proactive actions to defend the most vulnerable homes and eliminate combustible material within five feet of homes to reduce the risk of a home igniting in an ember-driven fire.”
Additionally, the executive order will instruct CalFire to designate approximately 1.4 million new acres as fire-prone, thereby subjecting homeowners in these areas to the home-hardening rules. Some cities and homeowners have already begun adopting these practices voluntarily.
Governor Newsom emphasized the broader state strategy to enhance wildfire and forest resilience, which includes forest management, investments in firefighting personnel and equipment, community hardening, and the adoption of advanced response technologies.
To assist homeowners in complying with these rules, Newsom has proposed a $25 million budget allocation. The state, noted for having some of the strictest defensible-space laws in the West, has required homeowners in fire-prone areas to clear flammable materials within 30 feet of their houses since the 1960s, later expanding this to 100 feet in 2006.
The new regulations introduce an “ember-resistant” zone, or “zone zero,” prohibiting materials like brush, wooden fencing, and mulch within five feet of homes. This initiative aims to eliminate potential ignition sources from embers, which are responsible for 90% of wildfire-related structural destruction.
The bipartisan-supported zone-zero legislation followed the unprecedented fires of 2017 and 2018, including the blaze that decimated Paradise, California, resulting in the loss of over 17,000 structures and 85 lives.
