Existing law requires the State Fire Marshal to identify areas of the state as moderate, high, and very high fire hazard severity zones based on specified criteria. Existing law requires the State Fire Marshal to periodically review the areas in the state identified as very high fire hazard severity zones, as specified. Existing law requires a local agency, within 30 days after receiving a receiving a transmittal from the State Fire Marshal that identifies those fire hazard severity zones, to make the information available for public review and comment, and to present the information in a format that is understandable and accessible to the general public, including, but not limited to, maps. Existing law requires a person who owns, leases, controls, operates, or maintains an occupied dwelling or structure in a very high fire hazard severity zone to take certain fire risk management measures, including maintaining defensible space of 100 feet from each side of the structure, except as provided. Existing law requires the Office of the State Fire Marshal to develop a model defensible space program, as provided, that includes, but is not limited to, specified components, including enforcement mechanisms for compliance with and maintenance of defensible space requirements. Existing law includes among these enforcement mechanisms, among other things, site inspections.
This bill would require the factors on which the fire severity zones are based to include areas within the perimeter of a wildfire that burned 1,000 or more acres, destroyed more than 10 structures, or resulted in a fatality, and to include areas at risk for an urban conflagration that accounts for the potential for structures to serve as a fuel source that extends the ember cast outside of wildland areas. The bill would require the State Fire Marshal to update the designations in the next review and all subsequent reviews, and to publish the model and methodology used to develop the fire hazard severity zones on its internet website at least 60 days before finalizing those designations.
This bill would require a city or county to designate, by ordinance, an area in its jurisdiction that is within the perimeter of a wildfire described above occurring on or after January 1, 2025, as a very high fire hazard severity zone within a specified timeframe, but would authorize a city or county to exclude such an area if it makes findings, as specified, that the none of the state fire protection standards, as defined, are necessary for effective fire protection within the area. The bill would authorize a city or county to include areas within its jurisdiction that were not burned in such a wildfire as a very high, high, or moderate fire hazard severity zone, as specified. At least 60 days before adopting an ordinance designating an area burned in such a wildfire as a very high fire hazard severity zone, the bill would require the city or county to transmit a draft of the ordinance to the Office of the State Fire Marshal and to every local agency that provides fire protection to any area within the jurisdiction of the city or county to review and recommend changes, as specified. The bill would require the city or county to consider those recommendations and, if it does not accept those recommendations, to communicate in writing its reasons for not accepting those recommendations, as specified. The bill would authorize the Office of the State Fire Marshal to request a consultation with the city or county to discuss the rejected recommendations and the city's or county's response, and would prohibit the city or county from adopting the draft ordinance until after that consultation. The bill would also authorize the Office of the State Fire Marshal to allege to the Attorney General that the city or county is in violation of state law if, following the consultation and a specified notice by the Office of the State Fire Marshal, the city or county adopts the draft ordinance without the changes proposed by the office. The bill would require the city or county to amend the map of fire hazard severity zones provided by the State Fire Marshal, and to post a notice, as specified, identifying the location of the amended map, and post the amended map on its internet website. By requiring local agencies to take specific actions regarding fire hazard severity zones, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
This bill would, beginning January 1, 2027, require each local or state fire authority or designee authorized to enforce vegetation management requirements to establish, fund, and implement an enforcement program to verify ongoing compliance with the defensible space, vegetation management, and fuel modification requirements established by specified regulations. The bill would authorize those enforcing agencies to charge a fee sufficient to cover the costs of administering the program and providing any inspections conducted by the enforcing agency. The bill would also require each enforcing agency to inspect and document compliance for each affected property or structure at least once annually, except as provided, and to submit data on defensible space inspections and compliance to a reporting platform established by the Director of Forestry and Fire Protection for defensible space and home hardening assessment data. By requiring local fire authorities to take certain actions with regard to enforcement programs for defensible space, vegetation management, and fuel modification requirements, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.
This bill would provide that with regard to certain mandates no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.
With regard to any other mandates, this bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs so mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.

Statutes affected:
03/26/25 - Amended Senate: 51178 GOV, 51178 GOV