Coverage

Does Zone 0 apply to your home? SRA, LRA and hazard maps decoded

Fact-checked August 19, 2026·Sources at the end of this article

Of all the questions we get, "does Zone 0 apply to my home?" is the most common, and the honest answer is a short flow chart rather than a yes or no. It depends on which agency is responsible for fire protection where you live, and, for millions of homes, on a hazard map the state redrew in 2025 for the first time since 2011. This article decodes both, then walks you through checking your own address in a few minutes.

A one-paragraph refresher on Zone 0

Zone 0 is the ember-resistant zone. Measured from the structure (exterior wall, roof, attached deck, stairs or pergola), it extends five feet out, or to the property line, whichever comes first. It exists because most homes lost in wildfires are ignited by wind-driven embers landing on or near the house rather than by a wall of flame. AB 3074 (2020) wrote the zone into Public Resources Code §4291, but it only operates through regulations from the Board of Forestry. The Board approved those regulations on August 19, 2026, and they are not yet in effect: Office of Administrative Law review and publication by the Secretary of State come first. The August package also narrowed what counts as the structure, so a noncombustible attached deck, stairs or pergola is part of it and the five feet are measured from the deck edge; only noncombustible patios are excluded. One caution on wording: the August 19 package published in the board binder is the pre-meeting deliberative draft, so the certified text is what will finally govern. Zone 0 sits inside California's existing defensible space framework of Zone 1 (0–30 ft) and Zone 2 (30–100 ft). New to the topic? Start with what Zone 0 actually is or the full California Zone 0 fencing guide.

"Scientific research has shown that the greatest risk of embers directly or indirectly igniting a home... stems from combustible materials built or planted within five feet of a home, including perpendicular wood fences and combustible landscaping."

Executive Order N-18-25, February 6, 2025

Two statutes, two coverage rules

California splits wildfire protection responsibility into areas. In a State Responsibility Area (SRA), the state is responsible for wildfire protection. In a Local Responsibility Area (LRA), that job belongs to a city, county or local district. The Zone 0 regulation runs on two different statutes, one for each area, and they do not cover the same ground. This is the single most misunderstood fact about Zone 0 coverage.

Fire Hazard Severity Zones (FHSZ) are the state's hazard classes: Moderate, High and Very High, mapped by CAL FIRE and the Office of the State Fire Marshal (OSFM). In the SRA, your hazard class does not matter: the rule reaches everywhere. In the LRA, your hazard class is everything: only Very High is in. Federal Responsibility Area land, where the federal government is responsible for fire protection, is not covered by either statute.

The counterintuitive part: Moderate can be in, High can be out

Because coverage follows the responsibility area first and the hazard class second, the results can look backwards. A home in a Moderate hazard zone inside the SRA is covered by the regulation. A home in a High hazard zone inside an LRA (a nominally riskier rating) is not. Here is the full grid.

How much of California this covers

The covered territory is large. Per the Board of Forestry FAQ and CAL FIRE figures, roughly 1.25 million structures sit in the SRA and about 870,000 more sit in LRA Very High zones: approximately 2.12 million structures in total, about 17% of all structures statewide. By land area, the footprint is about 31.0 million acres of SRA plus roughly 1.17 million acres of LRA Very High. That comes to about 32.2 million acres, roughly a third of California's land surface (computed from CAL FIRE's published boundary layers). So the odds your home is affected are meaningful, but most California structures (about 83%) sit outside the statewide rule entirely.

The 2025 map update: why your answer may have changed

If you last checked your hazard zone years ago, check again. Between February 10 and March 24, 2025, California released updated Fire Hazard Severity Zone maps for LRAs in four phases. It was the first update since 2011, and the first time Moderate and High classes were mapped in the LRA at all. Before 2025, LRA maps showed only Very High zones.

Two consequences follow. First, many addresses carry a different classification today than they did in 2024. Second, the state map is a floor, not a ceiling: local agencies must adopt the zones by ordinance and may add area at their discretion, so local coverage can be broader than what the state map shows. The map answers "what does the state think"; your city or county fire agency answers "what applies here."

How to check your address, step by step

1. Open the state's FHSZ maps. The CAL FIRE / OSFM Fire Hazard Severity Zone page is the authoritative source: osfm.fire.ca.gov: Fire Hazard Severity Zones. Maps are published for both the SRA and the LRA.
2. Find your parcel. Locate your address on the map.
3. Record two facts. First: is your parcel in the SRA or the LRA? Second: what hazard class does it carry: Moderate, High or Very High?
4. Apply the two-statute rule. SRA in any hazard class: the statewide regulation covers you. LRA: it covers you only if you are in a Very High zone. Either way, its requirements start on an effective date that has not been set yet.
5. Confirm with your local fire agency. Because local agencies adopt LRA zones by ordinance and may add area beyond the state map, the local adopted version can be broader than what you see online.
6. Check for a local Zone 0 ordinance. Some jurisdictions have their own Zone 0 rules in force today, independent of the state regulation and its pending effective date; the next section covers who.

Local rules can reach where the state rule does not

As of August 19, 2026, six jurisdictions have Zone 0 rules of their own already in force: the Ventura County Fire Protection District (Zone 0 for new buildings since April 2019; a full noncombustible zone since March 1, 2025), the City of Laguna Beach (Ordinance 1664, for existing structures in its Very High zone, since November 5, 2021), the Moraga-Orinda Fire District (effective March 17, 2023, for all structures in the district), the City of Auburn (effective July 10, 2024, for new construction), the City of Berkeley's EMBER ordinance (effective January 1, 2026, in the Grizzly Peak and Panoramic hillside mitigation zones), and the City of San Diego (in force for new structures since February 28, 2026, with an existing-structures phase beginning February 28, 2027).

San Diego is a useful illustration of why the map alone cannot answer your question. Its ordinance applies to all structures in a Very High FHSZ within city limits (reported to cover roughly two-thirds of city residents), but Escondido, San Marcos, Fallbrook, El Cajon, Chula Vista, Carlsbad, Poway and Ramona are separate jurisdictions without such an ordinance. We break down the city's rule, dates and materials standards in our San Diego Zone 0 guide.

State law also builds in room for local variation: Government Code §51182(f) lets local agencies adopt alternative practices, and an owner complying with locally adopted alternatives is not deemed in violation of the state section. The practical takeaway is that your city or county can be stricter, earlier, or simply different. See our running tracker of local Zone 0 ordinances for what is in force where.

What this means for you

If you are in the SRA (any hazard class) or an LRA Very High zone: the statewide regulation covers your home. It was adopted on August 19, 2026 and is not yet in effect, so nothing is due from you today. For fencing, the key facts are that fences and gates fall in Phase 2 for existing homes (the longest compliance runway: three years from an effective date that does not yet exist, or up to five on a local fire agency's timeline), while new construction will have to comply on the effective date itself. Details are in our timeline and enforcement explainer and in what the rule actually says about fences. Equally important is what the rule does not require: Board staff wrote in July 2026 that the purpose of the regulations is not to require wholesale replacement of existing wood fences. Existing combustible fences may remain, and repairs may continue with existing materials.

If you are in an LRA Moderate or High zone: the statewide regulation does not reach you. But check two things before you file this away: whether your city or county has its own Zone 0 ordinance, and whether your local agency has added area beyond the state map. Zone classifications also changed for many addresses in the 2025 update, so verify rather than assume.

Either way: no statewide compliance deadline is running today. The Board approved the regulation on August 19, 2026, and the package now goes to the Office of Administrative Law for review, including a five-day public comment period, and then to the Secretary of State for publication. Staff have said the rules could become effective as early as September 2026. Watch the status tracker for what actually happens.