Zone Zero regulations have been in the works for years, but in the wake of the Eaton and Palisades Fires the California Board of Forestry and Fire Protection was ordered to speed the process up.
"Governor Newsom has asked to expedite these rules and have the process complete by the end of the year," said Tony Anderson, the forestry board's Executive Director.
Zone Zero refers to the area closest to a home's perimeter, the space from zero to five feet away from the walls.
The new regulations being considered would require that space to be "ember-resistant defensible zone"for all homes that sit within "very high fire hazard severity zones."
A lot of the focus has been on trees and shrubs that are less than five feet away from structures, but Anderson says they don't necessarily have to be removed, just healthy and maintained.
"No dead or dying branches, make sure debris is off of your roof," he gave as examples. "Wood mulch around your home - the zone zero regulations, as the draft rules currently are, ask that maybe you rake that back from your home."
But Zone Zero opponents say the proposed rules are much more stringent and would strip the state of it's urban tree canopy, removing shade thus increasing temperatures and actually creating a larger fire hazard.
"Zone Zero would devastate our neighborhood, stripping shade, destabilizing hillsides, raising energy bills and straining the grid, and it would do all of this without making us safer," said Thelma Waxman, president of the Brentwood Homeowners Association.
Waxman was one of dozens of people who packed a conference room at the Pasadena Convention Center to share their concerns about Zone Zero regulations with the forestry board.
The forestry board admits Zone Zero will affect about two million structures, representing 17% of all structures in California. And removing trees and other vegetation is not cheap, said Sarah Flaherty, a representative for Los Angeles City Councilmember Traci Park.
"It would require the removal of an estimated 2,000 acres of vegetation across Los Angeles and cost individual property owners approximately $13,000 each to comply," she told the board.
Meantime, the clock is ticking for homeowners to share their feelings about Zone Zero with the state. From now until the end of the year, the board will be finalizing the regulations. They're expected to go into effect in January, with the state gradually phasing them in over the next three years
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