Wildfire · Safety guide · Reviewed July 14, 2026
Wildfire defensible space around the home
Start here before yard work near the home. It also explains the wildfire hazard map.
The short version
Start at the house, then work outward
On a covered property, California's existing duty generally reaches 100 feet from the structure or to the property line, whichever comes first. Clear dead material, break up fuels, and pair the yard work with home hardening. Check the local fire authority before major work.
What changes the answer: California law names the zero-to-five-foot ember-resistant zone, but the regulation that will spell out the detailed statewide duties and start dates is still draft. A local rule, inspection order, insurance request, or sale duty may already apply.
Defensible space is the area around a building where you lower the chance of fire reaching the home. Flames, heat, and embers can all be a threat. The goal is not a bare yard.
Start at the house. Embers find the roof, gutters, vents, decks, and porch steps first. They can also find mulch, firewood, furniture, fences, and dry leaves.
Then work outward. State guidance uses zones. Local fire departments can add rules. Cities, counties, HOAs, tree rules, insurance checks, and sale papers can add more steps.
California law names Zone 0 as the ember-resistant area from zero to five feet around a structure. The statewide regulation that will spell out the final duties and start dates is still in draft. As of July 14, 2026, the Board was still holding workshops and sharing draft text. Existing local rules, inspection orders, sale duties, and safety guidance can still apply now.
How it works
The first five feet catch embers
A wildfire does not need a wall of flame to reach a home. Wind can carry embers into roof valleys, gutters, vents, deck gaps, and dry material beside the walls. A small flame there can grow against the building.
Make the first pass around everything that touches or sits close to the home. Look for leaves, needles, cardboard, doormats, cushions, firewood, wood piles, and burnable items under a deck. Clean or move what you safely can, then add roof, vent, window, and siding repairs to the same plan.
The 100-foot rule stops at the property line
For property covered by California's defensible-space law, the work generally reaches 100 feet from each side of a structure or to the property line, whichever is nearer. Fuel work is more intense close to the structure and becomes less intense farther out. The aim is to slow fire and keep flames from climbing through layers of plants.
The current zone layout calls the area from 5 to 30 feet Zone 1 and the area from 30 to 100 feet Zone 2. Zone 1 focuses on clearing dead material and breaking links between plants and the home. Zone 2 reduces fuel and keeps grass and plants spaced. Local details can be stricter.
For a home with a side property line 60 feet away, the owner's state duty generally stops at that line on that side. It does not reach 40 feet into the neighbor's yard. Do not enter a neighbor's yard or cut a neighbor's plants on your own. Work across a property line needs the proper legal path and the adjacent owner's written consent.
The hazard map is not an insurance score
A Fire Hazard Severity Zone map describes long-term fire conditions such as fuel, terrain, embers, and typical fire weather. It does not measure today's risk at one home. It also does not give credit for a newer roof, cleared fuels, or other work already done.
The current State Responsibility Area map took effect in April 2024. The state sent recommended Local Responsibility Area maps to local governments in 2025. For a local parcel, confirm the adopted map with the city, county, or fire authority. An insurer may use other maps, models, inspections, and property facts.
The local fire authority finishes the answer
The state rule is only one layer. A city, county, or fire district can set inspection dates and local fuel rules. Tree, habitat, coastal, HOA, insurance, and real-estate rules can affect the same yard for different reasons.
Before removing large plants or trees, call the local fire authority and the local planning or tree office. Keep the notice, photos, and receipts from the work. Check the Board of Forestry page again before treating any Zone 0 draft as a final statewide rule.
First moves
- 1
Begin with ember hazards at the home. Check the deck, porch, stairs, and attached fence. Use current CAL FIRE safety guidance and check the Board's rulemaking status.
- 2
Check firewood, lumber, trash cans, furniture, dry leaves, and needles near the house. Move burnable material where current guidance and local rules direct.
- 3
Then check Zone 1 and Zone 2 guidance out to 100 feet or your property line.
- 4
Look up the property's Fire Hazard Severity Zone. See if it is in a state or local responsibility area. Confirm the local fire rules before major work.
- 5
Pair yard work with home hardening. Check the roof, gutters, vents, eaves, windows, decks, and siding.
Watch for
- 1
A Zone 0 draft is not a final statewide rule. Neither is a workshop handout, insurance request, or voluntary safety tip.
- 2
Fire Hazard Severity Zone maps show long-term hazard. They do not show the property's current risk or insurance price. They also leave out the effect of hardening and fuel work.
- 3
The state map is effective in State Responsibility Areas. The 2025 local maps began as state recommendations. The local jurisdiction handles adoption or changes.
- 4
One hundred feet does not mean crossing a neighbor's property or clearing land you do not own.
- 5
A beautiful plant can still be a problem. Watch for dead or dry growth, plants against the house, and fuel under a deck. Also look for plants that can carry fire upward.
- 6
Sale and insurance rules can be separate. So can city, county, fire-district, HOA, coastal, habitat, and protected-tree rules.
Official sources
Where to confirm this
Use the source that matches the part you need. Current forms, fees, deadlines, maps, and local decisions can change after this guide is reviewed.
Defensible-space duties can change by SRA or LRA location, fire hazard zone, local fire authority, city or county ordinance, property line, protected tree or habitat rule, insurance inspection, real-estate sale, and Zone 0 rulemaking or enforcement updates. Use CAL FIRE, the Board of Forestry, and the local fire authority for the current rule.