Jacob Margolis covers science for the LAist and KPCC newsroom.
An aerial view of cleared residential lots in Altadena. California is in the final stages of making rules aimed at preventing house-to-house fire spread.With our free press under threat and federal funding for public media gone, your support matters more than ever.
Help keep the LAist newsroom strong,If you're enjoying this article, you'll love our daily newsletter, The LA Report. Each weekday, catch up on the 5 most pressing stories to start your morning in 3 minutes or less.California is nearing the finish line on regulating what items can be stored and what plants can be grown within 5 feet of your home, theThe state Board of Forestry and Fire Protection advisory committee heard public comment and discussed the rules Thursday at one of its final meetings of 2025 before it presents its proposals to the full board. Debate has swirled for years over how the state should regulate zone zero, which often includes wooden fences, firewood piles and trees overhanging homes, all of which can combust and spread flames to structures during wildfires.“Keeping roofs, gutters and the area within 5 of a home free of leaves and needles.”“Ensuring that fences and gates attached to buildings must be made of non-combustible materials for the first 5 feet.”committee is considering four options — ranging from no plantings allowed, with some exceptions for small potted plants, to well-maintained plantings as long as they aren’t dead or dying.For trees, the debate was over just how close branches from well-maintained trees should be from the home: 5 feet or no distance requirement at all.He said his organization “is opposed to zone zero regulation if it includes vegetation in the 5-foot-zone-around-the-home options,” he said. “ These options will not make more survivable or insurable.”“Sacramento's one-size-fits-all approach to maps and regulations ignores local realities,” Ventura County Supervisor Jeff Gorrell wrote in a public comment. “Without clear funding, local flexibility or practical timelines, these rules risk creating another unfunded mandate that burdens homeowners and drives up insurance and housing costs.”The rules would apply to homes in Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zones and those in State Responsibility Areas. You can Any new construction built after the rules go into effect will have to comply. Everyone else will have three years to adjust. If you are granted a building permit before the rules are enacted, your structure will count as an existing building., passed in 2020, set the stage for the creation of an ember-resistant 5-foot zone around structures. Gov. Gavin Newsom issued anafter the 2025 January fires, saying that the rulemaking process had to be completed by the end of this year. California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara recently wrote that the zone zero regulations are crucial to addressing the state’s insurance crisis. “Finalizing consistent statewide ‘zone zero’ regulations will bolster my efforts to ensure property insurance remains available throughout the state while qualifying more individuals for insurance discounts,” heto the Board of Forestry and Fire Protection. “With an increasing number of insurance companies returning to the market under my Sustainable Insurance Strategy, we need a ‘whole-of-government’ approach to continue our progress.” At LAist, we believe in journalism without censorship and the right of a free press to speak truth to those in power. Our hard-hitting watchdog reporting on local government, climate, and the ongoing housing and homelessness crisis is trustworthy, independent and freely accessible to everyone thanks to the support of readers like you.Congress voted to eliminate funding for public media across the country. Here at LAist that means a loss of $1.7 million in our budget every year. We want to assure you that despite growing threats to free press and free speech, LAist will remain a voice you know and trust. Speaking frankly, the amount of reader support we receive will help determine how strong of a newsroom we are going forward to cover the important news in our community.With more individuals like you supporting this public service, we can continue to provide essential coverage for Southern Californians that you can’t find anywhere else.An uninsured Altadenan is determined to rebuild. Will the obstacles be insurmountable? Most survivors of January's fires face a massive gap in the money they need to rebuild, and funding to help is moving too slowly or nonexistent.Explore LANo Kings protests will take place across SoCal on Saturday. Here's what you need to knowAt a Boyle Heights hospital, ICE agents call the shots, doctors sayInside Cal State's big $17 million bet on ChatGPT for allWhich schools get to have crossing guards? Here’s how LA is changing the system LA’s legal cannabis owners say multi-million dollar program to give them a hand up, instead left ‘complete debt and devastation’
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