San Mateo County guide

Zone 0 in San Mateo County: Woodside's rule is in force, and its fence line is written at six feet

Fact-checked August 20, 2026·Sources at the end of this article

Two sets of rules, and the one in force here belongs to a fire district

In force now: Woodside Fire Protection District (WFPD) Fuel Mitigation Ordinance No. 24-01. Section 13 reads: "This ordinance shall take effect and be in full force and effect 30 days after its passage," and the enactment clause records passage "this 30th day of April, 2024." The Town of Woodside states the result: "Ordinance 24-01 takes effect May 30, 2024." A fire district board adopted it, not a city council.

Section 3(d) applies it to "All Improved Parcels within the jurisdiction of the Woodside Fire Protection District, at all times of the year," in both responsibility areas, and it covers more than its name suggests: Woodside, Portola Valley, Emerald Hills, Ladera, Los Trancos, Skyline and Vista Verde. Hazard maps do not narrow it. The district's own reminder: "WFPD's local ordinance is more restrictive and applies to all zones for 'Defensible Space' requirements."

Adopted, not yet in effect: the statewide regulation approved August 19, 2026, awaiting Office of Administrative Law review and publication by the Secretary of State. Our timeline and enforcement guide follows that process; the register lists what we have verified as in force. No state body compiles that list, which is how this ordinance stayed off ours until now.

Where the statewide rule will reach in this county

The rule runs on two legal tracks. In the State Responsibility Area (SRA, where the state carries financial responsibility for wildfire protection) it reaches every hazard class, under Public Resources Code section 4291. In the Local Responsibility Area (LRA, land protected by a city, district or county agency) it reaches only mapped Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zones, under Government Code section 51182. San Mateo splits unevenly between them: 176,444 acres of SRA against 36,423 of LRA, of which 7,097 are Very High. The SRA is roughly 96 percent of the rule's footprint here, the LRA Very High share about 3.3 percent of mapped acreage. That arithmetic is ours from the state's figures. Almost all exposure sits on the SRA side: the coastside, the Skyline corridor, the unincorporated south county.

Those are the State Fire Marshal's recommendations. As Central County Fire puts it, a local agency "cannot downgrade hazard levels identified by the state but may increase them if justified." County agencies received the maps on February 24, 2025. Three adoptions are confirmed from primary documents: San Mateo Consolidated Fire adopted its map "without change" on May 21, 2025, Menlo Park FPD's took effect June 19, 2025, and WFPD's Ordinance 25-01 adds no area. Menlo Park FPD's ordinance also records that the district "is not responsible for fire protection within a very high fire hazard severity zone," so on its own statement the section 51182 track would not reach its LRA homes. To place your parcel, use our address lookup walkthrough.

What Woodside's Zone 0 actually requires

Section 4 defines it conventionally: "ZONE 0. Referred to as the Ember-resistant Zone or Home Ignition Zone, it extends from 0 to 5 feet from any Structure and attached deck on the Parcel, but not beyond the property line."

The requirements at section 5(a)(1)(A) are a real ember-resistant zone: hazardous vegetation and combustible materials removed within the first five feet and from under combustible decks; no combustible bark or mulch; live branches 10 feet above the roof and 5 feet from the sides; firewood relocated out of the zone. It is not a hardscape mandate, since gravel, flagstone and pavers appear as "Consider using" language, and it is not a bare five feet: the ordinance twice carves out "Groundcovers consisting of irrigated, approved vegetation if they do not form a means of readily transmitting fire as determined by the fire code official." Our Zone 0 checklist covers the state rule.

The fence rule, and why six feet is not a typo

Section 5(d) sits inside "SECTION 5. FUEL MITIGATION REQUIREMENTS," under no advisory heading:

Fences. Any new combustible fence shall have a separation distance of at least 6 feet from any structure unless the last 6 feet of fence connecting to the structure is constructed of non-combustible materials.

Woodside Fire Protection District Fuel Mitigation Ordinance No. 24-01, section 5(d), in force since 30 days after April 30, 2024

The district's own Guidelines restate it word for word. The distance is six feet, where the statewide regulation's ember-resistant zone is measured at five. It binds new combustible fences only: six feet clear, or a last six feet of noncombustible material. Section 5(d) then adds a separate sentence barring any "screen, barrier, fence, or other Structure made in whole or in part, of bark, mulch, or wood chips within 100 feet of a Structure or within 10 feet of the edge of a Fire Apparatus Access Road or driveway," which reaches wood-chip screening, not board fences.

Your existing wood fence is not required to be replaced. Existing fences appear at section 5(a)(1)(B), under a heading the ordinance itself writes as "Suggestions and Education for Zone 0 (Not Requirements)," phrased as advice: "For existing fences, consider providing a separation distance of at least 6 feet from any structure unless the last 6 feet of fence connecting to the structure is constructed of non-combustible material." Consider is not shall. If someone tells you replacement is mandatory today, ask them to point at the section.

For the noncombustible run itself, price aluminum, steel, wrought iron, chain link, masonry, concrete and stone: our guide to noncombustible fence materials explains the test, and the five-foot transition covers detailing, which here is six.

Enforcement is real, and it is gated on your home assessment

Section 10 declares every violation a public nuisance, allows an administrative citation, and makes a violator "guilty of an infraction or a misdemeanor in accordance with Health and Safety Code Section 13871." The ladder runs from a 10-day notice to abate, through appeal to the Board of Directors, to abatement at the owner's expense, and then "After 30 days of non-payment, a special assessment and a lien will be placed against the property." The ordinance title also carries a duty "REQUIRING DOCUMENTATION OF COMPLIANCE PRIOR TO SALE OF THE PROPERTY."

The gate is equally real: "Enforcement of ordinance 24-01 is still in progress. If we have not completed your home assessment, you are not subject to any enforcement actions." Once an assessment is done, "you have 1 year to comply if demonstrating substantial progress." So the rule is in force and is being enforced parcel by parcel, which is not the same as the district enforcing Zone 0 across the board today. The assessment is free, WFPD calls it "required by law under local ordinance," and inspects 2,000 parcels a year. Schedule at (650) 851-1594.

The money, and the tax rate area you need to check first

Before any dollar figure, find the tax rate area printed on your San Mateo County property tax bill. The strongest fence money here is confined to ten of them, covering Los Trancos, Vista Verde and Oak Forest Court: 019160, 070006, 070030, 070034, 070035, 070036, 070037, 070038, 070041 and 070042. WFPD's incentive program is "available only to most homeowners in Los Trancos and Vista Verde," a district San Mateo LAFCo puts at 335 acres and a population of 1,050 as estimated in 2015. Outside those tax rate areas it pays nothing.

Inside them the terms are unusual: "$7,500.00 (a 50% increase) each fiscal year, from July 1 - June 30 ... per household on a first come, first served basis until budgeted funding has been depleted," at 50 percent reimbursement, under a window the page titles July 2026 to June 2028. Fences are named twice, including "Fence replacement reimbursement will be limited to six feet from a structure," and hardscape materials are "reimbursed at the lesser of $2.50/sq ft or 50% of actual cost." A home assessment and pre-approval come first, and you then have six months for home hardening work, three for defensible space work.

We will not tell you the program is open on a given day, and we will not tell you it is closed: it carries no dated banner and awards run until funding is depleted, so phone WFPD at (650) 851-1594 before committing money. The county's other program, the Town of Woodside's matching fund at "50% of the cost ... up to a maximum of $3,000," never mentions fences. Both figures are current, for two programs on one page. Our guide to who pays sets this in statewide context.

Everywhere else in the county

We found no second Zone 0. San Mateo Consolidated Fire's current code, effective January 1, 2026, contains no occurrence of "fence" and no ember-resistant zone; Coastside FPD's most recent fire code ordinance has no "fence," "Zone 0" or "defensible" content; and Central County Fire's defensible-space bullets say nothing about the first five feet or fences. Menlo Park FPD publishes Zone 0 as advice, citing no ordinance, Redwood City's page carries none of it, and the San Mateo County Fire Department, a CAL FIRE cooperative program covering the unincorporated areas, publishes no county Zone 0. Our local ordinance tracker lists what we can confirm statewide.

Claims we could not verify

• That Coastside FPD is starting Zone 0 inspections in 2026. That is an outlet's headline over coverage of a November 18, 2025 Half Moon Bay meeting. Nothing on the district's own site announces a Zone 0 requirement.
• Whether San Mateo Consolidated Fire still imposes defensible space across all three LRA classes. Its earlier ordinance said so; the current one neither repeats nor repeals it.
• Which jurisdictions actually adopted the 2025 recommendation, and whether any added area. Only three adoptions were verified; the rest, from Half Moon Bay to the Town of Woodside, are unconfirmed. For the county itself the record shows a June 10, 2025 introduction and no located second reading.
• Whether the Los Trancos program is taking applications today, or how large its budget is. Neither is published.
• Whether WFPD's inspection-zone rotation is current. Its page still reads "2024 Current Inspection Zones."
• Whether the Zone 0 duty reaches an existing wood fence inside the first five feet. The drafters put existing-fence replacement expressly under the "Not Requirements" heading, and we read it as the district writes it: only new fences are regulated. If it matters to you, get it in writing from the Fire Code Official.
• North County Fire Authority, Redwood City and La Honda. The first two published no five-foot or fence content on the pages checked, which rules nothing out; La Honda Fire Brigade was not checked.
• How many homes are involved. No structure or parcel count was found, so do not convert acres to houses. Acreage is acreage.

What this means for you

• In Woodside, Portola Valley, Emerald Hills, Ladera, Los Trancos, Skyline or Vista Verde: you are already under an ember-resistant zone requirement. Book the free home assessment rather than waiting for it: it is the enforcement trigger, and the gate to any local money.
• Building or replacing a fence in the district? Design for six feet: a new combustible fence stands six feet clear, or its last six feet are noncombustible.
• Not building one? Nothing in force here requires you to touch your existing fence. Spend first on what the ordinance mandates: bark and mulch out of the first five feet, firewood relocated, branches cleared.
• Check your tax rate area before planning around the $7,500, get pre-approval before spending, and mind the completion windows.
• Everywhere else: the SRA track is what will reach most of you. Walk your first five feet with our self-assessment and read our fence requirements guide first.

How often CAL FIRE inspects here

Almost all of San Mateo County is Local Responsibility Area, so CAL FIRE's own inspection program barely touches it: just 22 parcels appear in the State Responsibility Area program for July 2026. That is not a measure of how closely the county is watched. It is a measure of how little of it CAL FIRE, rather than a local fire agency, is responsible for. 9 properties were found non-compliant on a first inspection.

Two things this does not tell you. These counts cover inspections by CAL FIRE and Contract Counties inside the State Responsibility Area only, so work done by local fire agencies in the Local Responsibility Area is absent entirely. And none of these inspections is checking Zone 0: they are inspections against the defensible space rules in force today, which reach from the structure out to one hundred feet and contain no ember-resistant zone requirement. See the full inspection figures and what they mean, read from CAL FIRE's public dashboard on August 20, 2026.