"A California state agency won't meet Governor Gavin Newsom's year-end deadline to finish long-delayed regulations to protect homes from wildfires, rules that experts say could have limited the destruction of the January Los Angeles firestorms. At a meeting of the California Board of Forestry and Fire Protection on Monday, chair Terrence O'Brien said officials would wait until March 2026 to continue work on regulations to require ember-resistant zones, called Zone Zero, around some 2 million houses in high-risk wildfire areas."
"O'Brien cited continued disagreement on how strictly to enforce the Zone Zero requirement to remove plants, wood fences and other combustible material within five feet of a home for the ongoing delays. A 2020 law enacted after a series of devastating wildfires originally mandated a January 2023 deadline to complete the regulations. That continues to be the challenge we face, he said at the meeting."
California's Board of Forestry and Fire Protection postponed work on Zone Zero ember-resistant regulations until March 2026, citing disputes over enforcement scope. The rules would require removal of plants, wood fences and other combustible materials within five feet of homes in high-risk areas, affecting about 2 million houses. A 2020 law originally set a January 2023 deadline to finish the regulations, but disagreements and resident pushback have delayed progress. Scientific studies indicate ember-resistant measures substantially increase home survival, while officials balance resilience goals with insurance market realities and homeowner affordability concerns.
Read at www.mercurynews.com
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