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California approves statewide Zone 0 wildfire safety rules
The rules would apply within five feet of structures in designated high-risk areas, and insurers will still verify measures separately for any credits or discounts.
California has approved the nation’s first statewide Zone 0 wildfire standard, setting a common fire-safety baseline around homes as insurers increasingly factor wildfire mitigation into pricing and risk assessments, according to Insurance Business.
The California Board of Forestry and Fire Protection voted on August 19 to approve regulations that focus on the first five feet around structures in State Responsibility Areas and Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zones within Local Responsibility Areas. Under the Zone 0 rules, combustible materials such as firewood, wood mulch, wood chips and accumulated debris generally must be removed, while certain maintained plants and existing trees can remain under specified conditions.
A vegetation-free safety area must extend at least one foot from the structure or to the edge of its eaves, whichever is greater. Vegetation also must be kept two feet from windows, doors and vents, and five feet from attached decks and similar features.
The regulations are expected to move through expedited review by the California Office of Administrative Law, with a potential effective date in September. New construction would have to comply once the rules take effect, while existing properties would be phased in over five years.
Insurance credits and discounts will not automatically follow Zone 0 compliance, Insurance Business notes. Under California’s Safer from Wildfires program, insurers subject to the mitigation rules must provide individual credits or discounts for specified measures, but they use their own filed rating and verification procedures, and local agencies may authorize alternatives in Local Responsibility Areas that deliver “substantially similar practical effects.”