Newsom to sign delayed rule that will make California homes more fire resistant

As Los Angeles reels from deadly January wildfires that destroyed thousands of homes, California Gov. Gavin Newsom said Thursday he will order the state to advance long-delayed regulations requiring homeowners in high-risk areas to clear combustible materials around their homes.

His office didn’t immediately say if the executive order will set a timeline for implementing the rule, which was passed by lawmakers in 2020 and originally set to take effect by January 1, 2023. Newsom is expected to sign it after his trip to Washington to advocate for disaster aid.

The rule requires homeowners to clear materials like dead plants and wooden furniture within 5 feet (1.5 meters) of homes in fire-prone areas. As multiple fires roared through L.A. neighborhoods in January, the regulations still weren’t written, and the state Board of Forestry and Fire Protection told the Associated Press last month it had no firm timeline for completing them. State officials said in a November meeting that the draft language likely won’t be considered by the board until late this year, though the state has already encouraged homeowners to take up the practice on its website.

In response to questions from the AP last month, lawmakers who sponsored the original legislation said they were frustrated by the delay. Experts said it is likely the more stringent requirements could have saved some homes from the Palisades Fire, which became the most destructive fire in Los Angeles city history.

Most of the neighborhoods ravaged by the Palisades Fire are in areas that must follow state requirements to keep the immediate surroundings of their homes free of combustible materials and would be subject to the new rules because they are deemed at highest fire risk by the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. The fire, driven by hurricane-force winds that spread embers by air, destroyed at least 5,000 structures across areas including Pacific Palisades, Malibu, and Topanga Canyon.

Under the latest proposal, existing homes would have three years to comply with the regulations, so it is not clear how many homes would have been saved. But clearing the immediate area around homes likely would have made some difference, several experts said.

“These steps will spur proactive actions to defend the most vulnerable homes and eliminate combustible material within five feet of homes to reduce the risk of a home igniting in an ember-driven fire,” California Natural Resources Secretary Wade Crowfoot said. His agency oversees the board that is responsible for writing the regulations.

The executive order will also direct CalFire to add about 1.4 million new acres of land onto the fire-prone map, which will subject homeowners in those areas to the home-hardening rules. Some cities and homeowners are already taking on the practice voluntarily.

“To meet the needs of increasingly extreme weather, where decades-old buildings weren’t planned and designed for today’s realities, these proposals are part of a bigger state strategy to build wildfire and forest resilience from forest management, to huge investments in firefighting personnel and equipment, community hardening, and adopting state-of-the-art response technologies,” Newsom said in a statement.

State officials told the AP last month that Newsom has proposed to spend $25 million to help homeowners follow the rules and other defensible-space requirements.

California already enforces some of the most stringent defensible-space laws in the West, which require homeowners in fire-prone places to keep the area immediately around their homes free of landscaping and other materials that could catch fire. The state began requiring homeowners in high-risk areas to clear flammable materials within 30 feet (9 meters) of their houses in the 1960s and then expanded the rules to include areas within 100 feet (30.5 meters) of structures in 2006.

The latest measure creates a new “ember-resistant” zone, dubbed “zone zero,” that bars things like brush, wooden fencing, furniture, sheds, and mulch within 5 feet (1.5 meters) of homes. The idea is to clear all materials that could catch fire from flying embers carried by winds and spread to the structure. State officials and researchers said embers are responsible for 90% of structures destroyed by wildfire.

The zone-zero law passed with bipartisan support after California experienced record-breaking fires in 2017 and 2018, including a fire that wiped out the town of Paradise, destroying more than 17,000 structures and killing 85 people.

—Trân Nguyễn, Associated Press

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