As California delays ‘zone zero’ wildfire protection rules, study finds clearing vegetation prevented home damage in LA fires

As California again delays controversial rules requiring homeowners in fire-prone areas to maintain a 5-foot “ember-resistant” zone around their houses, a new report finds that properties that were already close to that standard were much less likely to be destroyed in the devastating Los Angeles wildfires in January.

With ashes still smoldering, researchers with the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety, an industry-backed group, surveyed 252 homes that had been in the path of the blazes in Altadena and Pacific Palisades.

The group determined that of homes with more than half of their 5-foot zone covered in vegetation or other combustible material, 27% were completely destroyed. That share fell to 9% for homes with flammable material covering less than a quarter of the zone.

Roy Wright, chief executive of the institute, said the findings reveal that “there are ways that we can narrow the pathways of destruction” during climate-driven megafires and “we should have faith and trust in those strategies.”

But as the state works to craft the new fire safety rules ordered earlier this year by Gov. Gavin Newsom, homeowners have voiced concerns about the costs of removing plants, trees, wood fencing and other flammable materials, as well as the prospect of replacing landscaping with gravel or dirt. Some consumer advocates also contend the rules could be used by insurance companies, who’ve backed the regulation, to end homeowners’ coverage.

In response to disagreements over how strictly to enforce the “zone zero” requirements, the California Board of Forestry and Fire Protection said it would wait until March 2026 to continue working on the regulations, blowing past a Dec. 31 deadline to finalize the rules set by Newsom’s order. A 2020 law originally mandated a January 2023 deadline to complete the regulations.

According to Bloomberg News, the latest delay means it could be mid-2029 or later before any mandate takes effect for the roughly 2 million homes in high-risk fire areas, including parts of every Bay Area county except San Francisco.

“California is committed to getting Zone Zero right, not just getting it done, through rules that reflect what LA fire survivors have told us while balancing resilience to the next fire, the realities of the insurance market and what homeowners can reasonably afford,” Anthony Martinez, a spokesperson for Newsom, said in a statement.

The Eaton and Palisades fires in Los Angeles County killed 31 people and destroyed more than 16,000 structures, many of them homes, making the blazes among the most destructive wildfires in California history.