In California, new rules are intended to create better defensible space
Meghan Gaines, a defensible space inspector for CalFire, spends 10-hour shifts visiting homes in a high wildfire risk region in central California. She checks that residents are following state requirements for managing flammable material within a 30-foot zone and then a 100-foot zone of homes.
Now, she’s also advising them about new state rules in development that will require an “ember resistant” zone within 5 feet of structures in these fire-prone areas—with the specifics of what’s to be banned still under discussion. There will also be more intense fuel reductions in a 5- to 30-foot zone. “We’re letting people know, ‘Hey, this is something that’s coming down the pike,’” Gaines said. “‘And here are some adjustments you can start making now, before it actually goes into effect.’”
The new rules were mandated by AB 3074, a bill approved in 2020 with unanimous bipartisan votes in the state legislature and the support of 30 organizations, including Sierra Club California. The bill requires the California State Board of Forestry and Fire Protection to develop rules on what homeowners in high wildfire risk areas can keep in a 5-foot zone—also called “zone zero” adjacent to their homes.