10 min read · HOA & Multifamily
On August 19, 2026 the California Board of Forestry and Fire Protection approved the final Zone 0 rule package — the ember-resistant zone covering the first five feet around a structure. For a single-family homeowner, Zone 0 is a landscaping and maintenance obligation with a multi-year phase-in. For a **homeowners association**, it is something more awkward: a state requirement that lands squarely on the things associations exist to control. Bark mulch beds specified in the landscape standards. Shrubs the CC&Rs require in front of units. Wood fences between patios. Common-area planting maintained under contract. This guide is for boards and managers: what the rule asks, where it collides with governing documents, who is actually on the hook, and how to sequence it without a special assessment.
What the rule requires, in the association's terms
Zone 0 covers the first **0–5 feet** around a structure and, as approved, splits into two bands. Nearest the building sits a noncombustible **"safety zone"** whose width flexes with the eave — a 12-inch eave produces a 12-inch zone, a 36-inch eave a 36-inch one, with a one-foot minimum where eaves are shallow, plus a vegetation-free buffer **two feet from windows, glass doors and vents** and **five feet around attached decks, stairs and pergolas**. Outside that, to the five-foot line, is a **low-combustibility zone**: no combustible mulch, wood chips, fallen leaves and needles, firewood or stored wood, and none of that on roofs or in gutters. Living landscape survives with limits — herbaceous plants in spaced groupings, low ground covers, lawn mowed to **three inches**, potted plants in noncombustible containers no taller than 18 inches. Existing trees may stay with maintenance; no new trees may be planted in the zone once the rule takes effect. Two items reach hard assets: **a five-foot noncombustible section is required where a fence attaches to a building**, and **sheds and outbuildings inside Zone 0 must have noncombustible exterior roofs and walls**.
Which communities it reaches, and when
The rule applies to property in the **State Responsibility Area** (per PRC §4291) and to parcels mapped **Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone within a Local Responsibility Area** (per Gov. Code §51182). Because California remapped its LRA zones in 2025 — the first full revision since 2007 — a community that was outside the Very High tier under the old maps may be inside it now, and boards should verify rather than assume; our 2025 FHSZ remap guide covers how that worked. On timing: the Board approved the package on August 19, 2026, and it still requires Office of Administrative Law review and publication by the Secretary of State, with the compliance clock running from publication rather than the vote. **New construction complies on the effective date.** Existing buildings get **Phase 1 within three years** (removing combustible items, cleaning gutters, removing dead and dying plants, trimming trees) and **Phase 2 within five years, with the specific timeline assigned by the local jurisdiction** (the under-eave safety zone, replacing combustible gates, adjusting sheds and fencing).
The sequencing trap boards will miss
AB 1455 (2025), chaptered October 13, 2025, wrote compliance sequencing into statute, and two of its provisions matter enormously in a common-interest development. **Rental properties must comply immediately** upon the new-structure effective date rather than on the three-year phase-in. **Properties offered for sale must comply upon sale, or three years after the new-structure deadline, whichever comes first.** In a community with a meaningful share of investor-owned units, or normal turnover, that means a single association will have units on at least three different clocks at the same time. A board planning one community-wide Zone 0 project on the three-year Phase 1 timeline will find that some of its members were already late. Getting a list of rentals and pending sales in front of the board early is cheap; discovering the distinction from an owner's escrow is not.
Where it collides with the governing documents
This is the part with no clean statutory answer, and we would rather say so than pretend otherwise. Many CC&Rs and architectural standards in fire-country communities require exactly what Zone 0 restricts: bark mulch in beds, foundation shrubs for a uniform street appearance, wood fencing between patios, a required plant palette. The state duty falls, in the statute's words, on *"a person who owns, leases, controls, operates, or maintains a building or structure"* — language that reaches an association that controls or maintains the landscape as squarely as it reaches an owner. So the association can find itself both the enforcer of a standard and the party responsible for the condition that standard produces. **We are siding contractors, not attorneys, and this is precisely the point at which a board should get its own legal advice** rather than act on a contractor's reading of Davis-Stirling. What we can say practically: the governing documents will need review, the review takes longer than boards expect, and starting it before the compliance clock is running is the difference between an orderly amendment and an emergency one.
What is a board expense and what is an owner expense
The honest answer is that it depends on your documents, and any contractor telling you otherwise has not read them. But the shape of the question is predictable. **Common area** — entry landscaping, slopes, greenbelt planting within five feet of any structure, common-area sheds and outbuildings, perimeter fencing where it attaches to buildings — will normally be association responsibility. **Exclusive-use common area** such as patios and balconies is the contested middle, and your documents' maintenance and repair allocation decides it. **Separate interest** planting inside an owner's own lot is normally the owner's. Where associations get into trouble is the fence-to-building transition and the shed: both are hard-asset replacements rather than gardening, both have a real unit cost, and both sit in Phase 2 rather than Phase 1 — which is to say a reserve item, not a landscaping line. Our reserve planning guide and avoiding special assessments cover how to get that into a funding plan before it becomes urgent.
Local variation, and why your fire agency is worth a meeting
The approved package deliberately allows **local fire agencies to authorise alternative practices** where local conditions warrant — geography and topography, fire risk, lot size, response resources, structure composition, or compliance with the wildland-urban interface code — provided the alternative delivers substantially similar practical effects, the agency makes a finding to that effect, and the governing body approves it. For an association this is genuinely useful, because a dense community with small lots and shared walls is exactly the situation where a literal application of a rule written for detached homes on acreage can produce odd results. One example the Board itself gives is that an inspector may consider **the use of fire-safe construction or building materials** in applying the rule. That is discretion available to the agency, not an exemption a board can claim — but it is a reason to open a conversation with your local fire agency early rather than to discover the local reading during an inspection.
What Zone 0 does NOT require — and where an exterior project genuinely helps
Be clear on the limits, because boards get sold on the wrong things. **Zone 0 does not require noncombustible siding on the buildings.** It regulates the strip, not the cladding. Anyone pitching a community-wide re-side as Zone 0 compliance is overselling, and a board should push back. What is true is narrower and still worth knowing: the rule reaches **sheds and outbuildings inside the zone**, which must have noncombustible exterior roofs and walls, and the **fence-to-building transition**, which needs a five-foot noncombustible section. Both are exterior-contractor scope. And where an association is *already* planning a re-side or an exterior capital project, the wall-base work that pairs naturally with Zone 0 — cladding-to-grade clearance, a noncombustible wall base, ember-resistant venting, a compliant fence transition — costs a fraction folded into that project versus mobilised separately later. Our Zone 0 guide covers the wall side in detail, and the HOA phasing guide covers running work across an occupied community.
Zone 0 obligations by area type in a common-interest development
| Where | What Zone 0 asks for | Usually whose responsibility | Phase |
|---|---|---|---|
| Common-area beds within 5 ft of a building | No combustible mulch, wood chips or stored wood; limited planting | Association | Phase 1 (3 yr) |
| Under-eave safety zone | Noncombustible, width flexing with the eave, 1 ft minimum | Association where it is common area | Phase 2 (5 yr) |
| Fence or gate attached to a building | 5 ft noncombustible section at the attachment | Association where the fence is common area | Phase 2 (5 yr) |
| Common-area sheds and outbuildings inside Zone 0 | Noncombustible exterior roofs and walls | Association | Phase 2 (5 yr) |
| Patios and balconies (exclusive-use common area) | Vegetation-free buffers; noncombustible pots only | Depends on your documents | Phase 1–2 |
| Planting inside a separate interest | Same restrictions, applied to the owner | Owner | Phase 1 (3 yr) |
| Building cladding | Not regulated by Zone 0 | n/a | n/a |
Key takeaways
- The Board of Forestry approved the final Zone 0 rule package on August 19, 2026. It still needs OAL review and Secretary of State publication, and the compliance clock runs from publication.
- Scope: State Responsibility Area parcels plus Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone parcels in Local Responsibility Areas. The 2025 LRA remap changed which communities that includes — verify.
- Existing buildings: Phase 1 within three years, Phase 2 within five (local jurisdiction assigns). New construction complies on the effective date.
- AB 1455 puts RENTALS on the immediate clock and FOR-SALE units at sale or three years, whichever is first — so one association will have units on three different timelines.
- The duty reaches 'a person who owns, leases, controls, operates, or maintains a building or structure', which is language that reaches an association controlling the landscape.
- CC&Rs that mandate bark mulch, foundation shrubs or wood fencing can conflict with the rule. Get the association's own legal advice — a contractor's reading of the governing documents is not advice.
- Zone 0 does NOT require noncombustible siding on the buildings. It does reach sheds and outbuildings inside the zone, and the fence-to-building transition.
FAQ
Quick Answers
It applies to property in the State Responsibility Area and to parcels mapped Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone within a Local Responsibility Area. Because California remapped its LRA zones in 2025 for the first time since 2007, a community that was outside the Very High tier under the old maps may be inside it now. Verify the community's parcels against the current maps rather than relying on what was true a few years ago.
The Board of Forestry approved the rule on August 19, 2026, and it still requires Office of Administrative Law review and publication by the Secretary of State; every deadline runs from publication. New construction complies on the effective date. Existing buildings get Phase 1 within three years and Phase 2 within five, with the local jurisdiction assigning the Phase 2 timeline.
No. Under AB 1455 (2025), rental properties must comply immediately upon the new-structure effective date, and properties offered for sale must comply at sale or three years after the new-structure deadline, whichever comes first. In a community with investor-owned units and normal turnover, that means several different compliance clocks running at once.
That is a genuine conflict and it needs the association's own attorney, not a contractor's opinion. What we can say is that the state duty reaches a person who owns, leases, controls, operates or maintains a building or structure — language that reaches an association controlling the landscape — and that reviewing and amending governing documents takes longer than most boards expect. Starting that review before the compliance clock is running is the difference between an orderly amendment and an emergency one.
It depends on your governing documents' maintenance and repair allocation. Common area within five feet of structures, common-area sheds, and perimeter fencing where it attaches to buildings will normally be association responsibility; planting inside a separate interest normally is not; exclusive-use common area such as patios is the contested middle. The fence transitions and outbuilding work are hard-asset replacements with real unit costs, and they sit in Phase 2 — which makes them a reserve item rather than a landscaping line.
No, and a board should push back on anyone who says so. Zone 0 regulates what occupies the first five feet, not the cladding on the buildings. The two places it does reach building materials are sheds and outbuildings inside the zone, which need noncombustible exterior roofs and walls, and the five-foot noncombustible section required where a fence attaches to a building.
The approved package allows local fire agencies to authorise alternative practices based on local variation — geography, fire risk, lot size, response resources, structure composition, or WUI code compliance — provided the alternative delivers substantially similar practical effects, the agency makes a finding, and the governing body approves it. That is agency discretion rather than something a board can claim, which is why an early conversation with your fire agency is worth having.
Sources
Authoritative references
- California Board of Forestry & Fire Protection — Defensible Space Zones 0, 1 and 2 (Zone 0 rulemaking)
- AB 1455 (2025, chaptered Oct 13 2025) — Zone 0 compliance sequencing for new, existing, rental and for-sale property
- AB 3074 (2020) — creating the ember-resistant zone (amending PRC §4291)
- Public Resources Code §4291 — defensible space in the State Responsibility Area
- Government Code §51182 — defensible space in Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zones (Local Responsibility Areas)
- AB 2911 (2018) — fire safety; amended PRC §4291 and Gov. Code §51179, §51189, §65302.5, §65040.21
- 2025 California Wildland-Urban Interface Code (Title 24, Part 7)
- CAL FIRE Ready for Wildfire — hardening your home
- CAL FIRE Office of the State Fire Marshal — Fire Hazard Severity Zones programme and maps
External links to government, code, and manufacturer sources. Sierra Siding is not affiliated with these organizations; references are provided for verification.