{
  "name": "California Zone 0 local ordinance register",
  "description": "Every California jurisdiction verified to require an ember-resistant zone (Zone 0), read from its own adopted ordinance or code text. No state agency maintains this list.",
  "publisher": "The Zone Zero Report",
  "source_page": "https://zonezeroreport.com/california-zone-0-register",
  "retrieved": "2026-10-04",
  "jurisdiction_count": 35,
  "spatial_coverage": "California, United States",
  "license": "https://zonezeroreport.com/about",
  "citation": "The Zone Zero Report, California Zone 0 local ordinance register, https://zonezeroreport.com/california-zone-0-register, retrieved 2026-10-04.",
  "method": "Each row is verified against the jurisdiction's own adopted ordinance or codified chapter, not against news coverage or secondary aggregation. Negative findings are published as well as positive ones.",
  "caveat": "Each row SUMMARISES an instrument; it is not the instrument. Read the linked page and the adopting document before relying on any row. Statutory status changes: check the retrieval date above.",
  "fields": {
    "jurisdiction": "The adopting city, county or district.",
    "county": "County the jurisdiction sits in.",
    "in_force": "When the requirement took effect, and the instrument that carries it.",
    "what_it_reaches": "Who and what the duty applies to, including geographic limits.",
    "fence_rule": "Whether the instrument imposes a fence requirement, and how it differs from the state rule."
  },
  "jurisdictions": [
    {
      "jurisdiction": "City of Berkeley",
      "county": "Alameda",
      "in_force": "January 1, 2026, two instruments: the EMBER inspection program and BMC Chapter 19.49, the consolidated WUI code",
      "what_it_reaches": "Continuous Zone 0 duties across the locally designated Very High zone under §604.3.1; the inspection program's roughly 1,400 properties sit in two named mitigation areas inside it. Not citywide",
      "fence_rule": "Yes, and stricter on repairs than the state. Attached fences need a five-foot noncombustible span; an unattached non-parallel fence within five feet needs one too; and no new or replacement sections of combustible fence within five feet, where the state text permits combustible repairs"
    },
    {
      "jurisdiction": "City of Fremont",
      "county": "Alameda",
      "in_force": "Fire Department Defensible Space Inspection Guide, adopted with the city's WUI code by Ordinance 12-2025, September 16, 2025",
      "what_it_reaches": "Very High zones: new combustible fences and bark-mulch fencing; existing wood fences untouched",
      "fence_rule": "Yes"
    },
    {
      "jurisdiction": "Unincorporated Butte County",
      "county": "Butte",
      "in_force": "Ordinance 4199, adopted February 9, 2021, in force thirty-five days later",
      "what_it_reaches": "Every parcel in the unincorporated county, existing structures included. Non-compliance is declared a public nuisance",
      "fence_rule": "No express fence rule. The word “fence” does not appear anywhere in the chapter, though “combustible material” is defined to include wood"
    },
    {
      "jurisdiction": "Town of Paradise",
      "county": "Butte",
      "in_force": "Chapter adopted November 12, 2019 after the Camp Fire; current text Ordinance 642, effective March 13, 2025",
      "what_it_reaches": "Every improved and unimproved parcel in town, existing structures included. No grandfather clause, and the seller must obtain a certificate of compliance before ownership transfers",
      "fence_rule": "Yes, and stricter than the state rule. All fencing within five feet must be noncombustible, attached or not, new or existing"
    },
    {
      "jurisdiction": "Moraga-Orinda Fire District",
      "county": "Contra Costa",
      "in_force": "March 17, 2023. The district has since adopted Ordinance 26-02, the 2025 state WUI code with local amendments, on January 21, 2026, effective thirty-five days later; we have not yet read its text and do not know what it changes here",
      "what_it_reaches": "All structures, new and existing",
      "fence_rule": "No. Ground cover reaches two feet, not five"
    },
    {
      "jurisdiction": "Unincorporated Napa County",
      "county": "Napa",
      "in_force": "May 2021",
      "what_it_reaches": "New construction only",
      "fence_rule": "No"
    },
    {
      "jurisdiction": "City of Grass Valley",
      "county": "Nevada",
      "in_force": "Ordinance 832, adopted December 10, 2024",
      "what_it_reaches": "Citywide",
      "fence_rule": "No"
    },
    {
      "jurisdiction": "City of Nevada City",
      "county": "Nevada",
      "in_force": "2023, Ordinance 2023-03",
      "what_it_reaches": "Citywide",
      "fence_rule": "No"
    },
    {
      "jurisdiction": "Unincorporated Nevada County",
      "county": "Nevada",
      "in_force": "Nevada County Code §4.01.040(C)(10)",
      "what_it_reaches": "All unincorporated territory",
      "fence_rule": "No"
    },
    {
      "jurisdiction": "City of Laguna Beach",
      "county": "Orange",
      "in_force": "November 5, 2021",
      "what_it_reaches": "Existing structures in the Very High zone",
      "fence_rule": "Yes"
    },
    {
      "jurisdiction": "City of Auburn",
      "county": "Placer",
      "in_force": "July 10, 2024",
      "what_it_reaches": "New construction only; expressly voluntary for existing buildings",
      "fence_rule": "Yes"
    },
    {
      "jurisdiction": "City of Banning",
      "county": "Riverside",
      "in_force": "Ordinance 1613, section 5, adopted November 12, 2025, as Municipal Code Chapter 15.11",
      "what_it_reaches": "The county scheme again. Banning is the first entry on this register we found by sweeping a county’s cities rather than by following a lead to a particular document",
      "fence_rule": "Yes, the county’s Section 604.11 verbatim, including the replacement trigger"
    },
    {
      "jurisdiction": "City of Beaumont",
      "county": "Riverside",
      "in_force": "Ordinance 1190, section 13, adopted November 4, 2025, amending Municipal Code Chapter 15.20 in its entirety",
      "what_it_reaches": "The county scheme again. Beaumont ties Moreno Valley as the earliest adopter in the county. The chapter it replaced was the old fire code chapter, which dated from 2019",
      "fence_rule": "Yes, the county’s Section 604.11 verbatim, including the replacement trigger"
    },
    {
      "jurisdiction": "City of Indian Wells",
      "county": "Riverside",
      "in_force": "Chapter 16.34, Ordinance 769, adopted February 5, 2026",
      "what_it_reaches": "Identical text to Indio, adopted separately, full Zone 0/1/2 scheme included",
      "fence_rule": "Yes, same two-part rule, including the replacement trigger"
    },
    {
      "jurisdiction": "City of Indio",
      "county": "Riverside",
      "in_force": "Article 93A, Ordinance 1824, adopted November 19, 2025",
      "what_it_reaches": "A full Zone 0/1/2 defensible-space scheme across the required 100-foot clearance, in applicable Fire Hazard Severity Zones: Zone 0 bars artificial grass, mulch, firewood and vines on near-structure fences, and existing fuel-modification zones can be ordered retrofitted when the fire code official requires it",
      "fence_rule": "Yes, and it reverses the state repair rule. All new fencing and gates noncombustible, no attachment trigger. Fencing installed before January 1, 2026 may remain, but replacing any part of a non-parallel run within five feet means the whole run must come back noncombustible"
    },
    {
      "jurisdiction": "City of Jurupa Valley",
      "county": "Riverside",
      "in_force": "Ordinance 2025-24, section 6, adopted November 6, 2025, in Municipal Code Chapter 8.05",
      "what_it_reaches": "The county scheme again, adopted inside the city’s construction-code chapter rather than a fire chapter. Its copy is the most edited in the family, though none of the edits changes meaning",
      "fence_rule": "Yes, the county’s Section 604.11, including the replacement trigger"
    },
    {
      "jurisdiction": "City of La Quinta",
      "county": "Riverside",
      "in_force": "Ordinance 627, introduced December 2 and adopted December 16, 2025, amending Municipal Code Title 8",
      "what_it_reaches": "The county scheme again, adopted as part of a whole-code cycle rather than a standalone fire ordinance. Its findings of local conditions are unusually detailed, running from annual rainfall of just over three inches to why aluminum wiring fails in desert heat",
      "fence_rule": "Yes, the county’s Section 604.11 verbatim, including the replacement trigger"
    },
    {
      "jurisdiction": "City of Lake Elsinore",
      "county": "Riverside",
      "in_force": "Ordinance 1521, adopted November 18, 2025, as Municipal Code Chapter 15.58",
      "what_it_reaches": "The county scheme again, reaching the hazard zones Chapter 6 covers. The city drew its own map first: Ordinance 2025-1519 designates the Fire Hazard Severity Zones inside the city as CAL FIRE recommended them, and the fence rule is scoped to those zones",
      "fence_rule": "Yes, the county’s Section 604.11 verbatim, including the replacement trigger that brings a whole run within five feet back noncombustible"
    },
    {
      "jurisdiction": "City of Menifee",
      "county": "Riverside",
      "in_force": "Ordinance 2025-425, passed November 19, 2025, as Municipal Code Chapter 8.21",
      "what_it_reaches": "The same Zone 0 scheme the county wrote: fuels prohibited in the first five feet for new buildings, additions and new or replacement landscape, with a narrower mulch, firewood and under-deck list for buildings whose landscape predates January 1, 2026",
      "fence_rule": "Yes, the county's Section 604.11 verbatim, including the replacement trigger that brings a whole run within five feet back noncombustible"
    },
    {
      "jurisdiction": "City of Moreno Valley",
      "county": "Riverside",
      "in_force": "Ordinance 1033, adopted November 4, 2025, as Municipal Code Chapter 8.84 amending the 2025 state WUI code",
      "what_it_reaches": "Zone 0, the first five feet, in the hazard zones Chapter 6 reaches; new buildings, additions and new or replacement landscape get a fully noncombustible Zone 0, and buildings whose landscape predates January 1, 2026 get the mulch, firewood and under-deck rules",
      "fence_rule": "Yes, and it is the third city to reverse the state repair rule. New fencing and gates noncombustible; fencing installed before January 1, 2026 may remain, but replacing any portion within five feet requires the whole run within five feet, gates included, to come back noncombustible"
    },
    {
      "jurisdiction": "City of Norco",
      "county": "Riverside",
      "in_force": "Ordinance 1135, adopted November 19, 2025, as Municipal Code Chapter 15.130",
      "what_it_reaches": "Same scheme again, and its Section 604.3 adds the Riverside County Fire Department Guidelines to the four state laws the model code already points at",
      "fence_rule": "Yes, the county's Section 604.11 verbatim, including the replacement trigger"
    },
    {
      "jurisdiction": "City of Palm Desert",
      "county": "Riverside",
      "in_force": "Ordinance 1439, adopted January 8, 2026, as Municipal Code Chapter 15.16",
      "what_it_reaches": "The same scheme, and its Section 302.1.1 designates moderate, high and very high zones on the State Fire Marshal’s recommendation. The statewide rule reaches only the Very High zone inside a Local Responsibility Area, so the map this rule is scoped to is the wider one",
      "fence_rule": "Yes, the county’s Section 604.11 verbatim, including the replacement trigger"
    },
    {
      "jurisdiction": "City of Temecula",
      "county": "Riverside",
      "in_force": "Ordinance 2025-14, adopted November 18, 2025, as Municipal Code Chapter 15.17",
      "what_it_reaches": "The same scheme, lightly re-edited rather than copied character for character: Temecula spells out “five feet” where the county wrote the numeral, and drops the county’s “req by” typo in the scope sentence. The substance is unchanged",
      "fence_rule": "Yes, the county’s Section 604.11, including the replacement trigger"
    },
    {
      "jurisdiction": "City of Wildomar",
      "county": "Riverside",
      "in_force": "Ordinance 258, introduced October 13 and adopted November 12, 2025, amending Municipal Code Chapter 8.28 and creating Chapter 8.30",
      "what_it_reaches": "The county scheme again. Wildomar is the second-earliest adopter in the county after Moreno Valley, and it was on our named-leads list for five days before we could read the adopted text",
      "fence_rule": "Yes, the county’s Section 604.11 verbatim, including the replacement trigger"
    },
    {
      "jurisdiction": "Unincorporated Riverside County",
      "county": "Riverside",
      "in_force": "Ordinance 787.11, adopted December 9, 2025, effective January 7, 2026",
      "what_it_reaches": "Unincorporated areas, fences within five feet of buildings in an applicable Fire Hazard Severity Zone. The source of the Indio and Indian Wells text, all three carrying the same Zone 0 maintenance list: artificial grass, vines on near-structure fences, mulch and firewood all barred",
      "fence_rule": "Yes, the same two-part rule as its cities: new fencing noncombustible, and replacing any part of a non-parallel run within five feet brings the whole run back noncombustible"
    },
    {
      "jurisdiction": "City of Redlands",
      "county": "San Bernardino",
      "in_force": "Ordinance 2998, adopted December 2025 with the 2026 code cycle",
      "what_it_reaches": "All existing habitable buildings in High and Very High zones, the widest hazard trigger on this table",
      "fence_rule": "No, but organic mulch is banned and noncombustible ground cover required in the first five feet"
    },
    {
      "jurisdiction": "North County Fire Protection District",
      "county": "San Diego",
      "in_force": "Ordinance 2025-03, its 2025 California WUI Code ordinance, effective January 1, 2026. The document does not print a board adoption date, only that effective date",
      "what_it_reaches": "The district’s boundaries in unincorporated San Diego County, around Fallbrook, Bonsall and Rainbow. Its Section 604.12.1 is the San Diego family text word for word: Zone 0 is the first five feet from the exterior wall, patio, deck or attachment, and that zone \"shall be constructed of continuous hardscape or non-combustible materials\", with combustible materials, firewood and lumber removed",
      "fence_rule": "No fence-specific section, the eleventh row with a Zone 0 rule and no fence provision. Its Annex D lists \"fences attachments\" among the combustible materials to remove from Zone 0, and its fuel-modification definition treats fences within five feet of a dwelling as structures, both identical to Rancho Santa Fe’s"
    },
    {
      "jurisdiction": "Rancho Santa Fe Fire Protection District",
      "county": "San Diego",
      "in_force": "Its 2025 California WUI Code ordinance, effective January 1, 2026",
      "what_it_reaches": "The district's boundaries within unincorporated San Diego County. Its Section 604.12.1 defines Zone 0 as the first five feet from the exterior wall, patio, deck or attachment, and requires that zone to be \"constructed of continuous hardscape or non-combustible materials,\" with mulch and other combustible materials prohibited. Whether that duty reaches existing untouched buildings is not answered cleanly by the text",
      "fence_rule": "No fence-specific section, which makes it the eighth row with a Zone 0 rule and no fence provision. Its own Annex D figure does list \"fences attachments\" among the combustible materials to remove from Zone 0, and its fuel-modification definition treats fences within five feet of a dwelling as structures"
    },
    {
      "jurisdiction": "City of San Diego",
      "county": "San Diego",
      "in_force": "Ordinance O-22042, the city's local amendments to the 2025 Wildland-Urban Interface Code, codified at Municipal Code §512.0604. In force for new structures from February 28, 2026; existing-home deadlines from February 2027",
      "what_it_reaches": "The Very High zone inside city limits, which is wider than the state's map: the city re-designated its High and Moderate areas as Very High and added canyons and brush management areas when it adopted its own map by Ordinance O-21992",
      "fence_rule": "Yes"
    },
    {
      "jurisdiction": "Unincorporated San Diego County",
      "county": "San Diego",
      "in_force": "County of San Diego Consolidated Fire Code §4907.9.1, effective April 13, 2023, renumbered §604.12.1 in the 2026 edition. In force more than three years before the state adopted its own version",
      "what_it_reaches": "The unincorporated county's fire protection districts, which the Consolidated Fire Code compiles. Zone 0 is the first five feet and \"shall be constructed of continuous hardscape or non-combustible materials,\" mulch prohibited. The San Diego County Fire Protection District adds its own subsections requiring combustible materials removed from roofs, gutters, decks, porches and stairways, and prohibiting firewood and lumber. Whether the duty reaches existing untouched buildings is still not answered by the text. Rancho Santa Fe and Valley Center appear separately above because they adopted their own 2025-cycle ordinances",
      "fence_rule": "No fence-specific section, the tenth such row"
    },
    {
      "jurisdiction": "City of Santee",
      "county": "San Diego",
      "in_force": "Ordinance 631, adopted January 14, 2026, adopting the 2025 Wildland-Urban Interface Code with local amendments",
      "what_it_reaches": "Very High zones inside the city, for work subject to the code. A separately added §603.5 also gives new developments a full Zone 0/1/2 fuel-modification scheme whose Zone 0 \"shall be constructed of continuous hardscape or non-combustible materials,\" with mulch prohibited; whether it reaches existing untouched buildings is not answered by the text",
      "fence_rule": "Yes, in two tiers. All fencing in a Very High zone must be ignition resistant; the closest five feet to any structure must be noncombustible. No attachment trigger"
    },
    {
      "jurisdiction": "Valley Center Fire Protection District",
      "county": "San Diego",
      "in_force": "Ordinance 2025-68, finally adopted October 16, 2025 on a 5 to 0 roll call vote, published by the district as effective January 1, 2026",
      "what_it_reaches": "The district's boundaries within unincorporated San Diego County. Its Section 604.12.1 is word for word the same as Rancho Santa Fe's: Zone 0 is the first five feet and \"shall be constructed of continuous hardscape or non-combustible materials,\" with mulch prohibited",
      "fence_rule": "No fence-specific section, the ninth such row, and the same two indirect pointers as Rancho Santa Fe: the Annex D figure and the fuel-modification definition"
    },
    {
      "jurisdiction": "Woodside Fire Protection District",
      "county": "San Mateo",
      "in_force": "Adopted April 30, 2024, effective 30 days later",
      "what_it_reaches": "District-wide",
      "fence_rule": "Yes, at six feet, and only for new fences"
    },
    {
      "jurisdiction": "Montecito Fire Protection District",
      "county": "Santa Barbara",
      "in_force": "Development Standard #2, November 2025",
      "what_it_reaches": "New buildings and additions, not untouched existing homes",
      "fence_rule": "Yes"
    },
    {
      "jurisdiction": "Ventura County Fire Protection District",
      "county": "Ventura",
      "in_force": "New buildings from April 2019; full noncombustible Zone 0 for new work from March 1, 2025",
      "what_it_reaches": "New buildings, additions, and new or refurbished landscaping, in most of the county outside three cities. An untouched existing building with pre-2025 landscaping falls under a shorter list",
      "fence_rule": "Yes, and its wording is the one Riverside County uses. Ordinance 34 Section 604.11 requires noncombustible fencing and gates installed on or after January 1, 2023, and has been in force in the district since that date. Fencing installed before it may remain, subject to a replacement trigger whose sentence is identical, character for character, to the one in the Riverside County code adopted three years later"
    }
  ]
}