California City Bans Foliage Within 5 Feet of Homes in Fire Hazard Areas

A firefighter lights a backfire to stop the Caldor Fire from spreading near South Lake Tahoe, Calif., on Sept. 1, 2021. (Jae C. Hong/AP Photo)

With California set to ban plants within five feet of homes at risk for wildfire, residents in the South Lake Tahoe area are on track to implement strict new fire rules this month.

A new ordinance approved by the South Lake Tahoe City Council in June affecting the entire city will go into effect on July 18, mandating that businesses and homeowners keep their properties free of brush, shrubs, grasses, and other combustible material in a five-foot zone around structures, South Lake Tahoe Battalion Chief Kim George told The Epoch Times July 16.

The fire-risk reduction initiative stems from Assembly Bill 3074, which was signed into law in 2020. The bill requires residents in fire hazard zones to implement fire fuel reductions by creating an “ember-resistant zone within five feet of the structure” based on regulations being developed by the State Board of Forestry and Fire Protection.

Ms. George indicated South Lake Tahoe was adopting the ordinance as a preemptive measure in anticipation of the enforcement of SB 3074.

Defensible space not only reduces fuel, it also creates room for fire crews to work, said Jamie Roice-Gomes, manager of the Living with Fire Program from the University of Nevada, in a June 27 press release.

The organization has partnered with the Tahoe Fire and Fuels Team—which works to reduce fuels in spaces where communities encroach on the wilderness—to educate Lake Tahoe residents about defensible space protections.

Existing California law says there must be a defensible space of at least 100 feet around a house in a fire hazard zone. The space consists of a five-foot ember-resistant area, a “lean, clean and green” area five to 30 feet from the home, and a reduced fuel area in the 30-100-foot range.  

The fire hazard zones are classified by the State Fire Marshal and organized into three levels of severity: moderate, high, and very high.

According to the 2020 legislation, one in four “residential structures” in California is in or near a zone of high or very high severity.

The board has not yet finalized the five-foot defensibility regulations. According to a spokesperson for the California Natural Resources Agency, which manages the forestry board, a working group convened by state agencies has been meeting this year to discuss the latest science and remaining issues related to the phasing-in and education for homeowners in fire hazard zones.

The agency told The Epoch Times on July 16 that the regulations being discussed were a priority and that they aimed to have a draft proposal to present to the board of forestry in the coming months.