CA revising home landscaping rules to protect your home from wildfires: Here's what to know
OAKLAND, Calif. (KGO) -- Your definition of "defensible space" around your home might have to be re-defined. The state of California is set to revise their fire safety requirements.
You might have to do things differently in the next few years to be "fire safe."
Defensible space to many Californians means clearing dead debris and dry grass from around their home and cutting overhanging tree limbs.
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But CAL FIRE is drafting up new rules that could lead local jurisdictions to revamp their ordinances.
The new focus is on the five feet closest to your home called Zone Zero and how even things like bushes and fences can catch flying embers and torch a house.
In the video above, the house on the left compared to the house on the right where wood is, is more than 5 feet away.
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Various agencies are now advising the state on the latest fire science including from former CAL FIRE official.
Steve Hawks is Director of Wildfire at the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety.
"Defensible space is not new to Californians. What is new is this first five feet, again, based on our research that is critically important to the sustainability of homes. That's no fences attaching to the side of the house, no bushes, no wood mulch and other combustible items that can potentially ignite allowing the fire to get to the house," he said.
Decks attached to a house are considered part of the structure.
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South Lake Tahoe is starting to enforce requirements similar to these this week, forcing homeowners to remove landscaping and wood gates from along their walls in the wake of the Calder Fire three years ago that threatened the whole town.
"If they have language or measures that would help keep us all safe, we would definitely want to consider it," said Oakland Fire Marshal Felicia Bryant.
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State Senator Scott Wiener said, "As homeowners, we may not like all of the wildfire rules or other rules but the least the state can do is make sure that those rules are simple and straightforward and we know exactly what's expected of us."
Senator Wiener is authorizing legislation to simplify state wildfire maps that outline neighborhood fire severity risk. Various agencies are working with the California Board of Forestry and Fire Protection to draft up the new zone zero rules that should be made official by the end of the year and then phased in.
