California FAIR Plan wildfire hardening discounts and your fence

The California FAIR Plan offers up to 12 wildfire hardening discounts on the wildfire portion of Dwelling Fire and Commercial premiums, in place since November 15, 2025, and one of them requires only noncombustible materials, fences and gates included, within 5 feet of the dwelling. All 12 together are worth up to 16.4% for Dwelling Fire and 13.8% for Commercial.

Dwelling Fire is the FAIR Plan’s policy for homes. To claim the discounts, you apply through a licensed insurance broker and should expect an inspection; the steps are below. The figures here come from the FAIR Plan’s one-page sheet, “Wildfire Hardening Discounts,” last revised 10/2025, which says the discounts “are subject to change.” For how FAIR Plan discounts compare with private insurers, see the Zone Zero insurance discount guide.

What are the 12 FAIR Plan wildfire discounts?

The sheet sorts them into four groups. The wording below is the FAIR Plan’s, lightly shortened.

Immediate surroundings (5 discounts):

1. Vegetation and debris cleared from under decks.
2. Vegetation, debris, mulch and other combustible materials cleared within 5 feet of the dwelling.
3. “Only noncombustible materials incorporated into any improvements to the property, including fences and gates, within 5 feet of the dwelling.”
4. Combustible sheds and outbuildings more than 30 feet from the dwelling, or as far as possible within the area you control.
5. Trees trimmed, brush and debris removed, and the property in compliance with state and local defensible space rules such as PRC 4291.

Structure (5 discounts):

1. A Class A fire rated roof, which the sheet defines as “asphalt fiberglass composition shingles, stone, concrete or clay tile, or metal.”
2. Enclosed eaves.
3. Ember and fire-resistant vents (“approved wire mesh covering”).
4. Multipane windows or functional shutters.
5. Noncombustible material on the bottom 6 inches of all exterior walls.

Property level completion (1 discount): an extra discount when all 10 items above are met.

Community (1 discount): the dwelling is in a Fire Risk Reduction Community listed by the Board of Forestry, or in a Firewise USA site in good standing. Meeting both earns “a larger total percentage discount.”

The list tracks the mandatory factors in the Department of Insurance’s Safer from Wildfires regulation, 10 CCR 2644.9(d)(1). The Safer from Wildfires guide goes through that regulation line by line.

How much can the discounts save?

The sheet gives only the totals. A Dwelling Fire policyholder who earns all 12 “may see a discount of up to 16.4% off the wildfire portion of their policy premium.” The Commercial maximum is 13.8%. The FAIR Plan does not publish what any single item is worth.

Both caps apply to the wildfire portion of the premium, which is smaller than the full bill. As a hypothetical: if $3,000 of a policy’s premium were the wildfire portion, the most all 12 discounts could take off would be about $492. Your declarations page or broker can tell you the actual split.

You may see “up to 20 percent” in older coverage. A Department of Insurance press release of April 3, 2025 described FAIR Plan discounts that way, before the current schedule. The FAIR Plan’s own sheet for November 15, 2025 onward gives 16.4% and 13.8%.

What does the fences and gates item require?

Item 3 asks that every improvement within 5 feet of the dwelling, fences and gates included, use only noncombustible materials. In practice, the part of any fence or gate inside the 5 foot band around the house needs to be metal, masonry or another noncombustible material, whether or not it touches the house. The sheet does not say whether a fence that only starts inside the band must be replaced beyond 5 feet.

The FAIR Plan sheet does not define noncombustible or say how the 5 feet is measured. The Department of Insurance (CDI) regulation it tracks measures from the building including attached or abutting decks (10 CCR 2644.9(b)(1)). Whether FAIR Plan inspectors do the same is not stated, so ask your broker.

The item reaches more fence than the Board of Forestry’s Zone 0 rule, which requires a 5 foot noncombustible span only on fences and gates that attach to the house or come within 1 foot of it (14 CCR 1298.04(b)(9); 1299.03(d)(9)). The Safer from Wildfires guide compares the two layout by layout.

How did the FAIR Plan discounts change in 2025?

The FAIR Plan first offered hardening discounts on August 23, 2023, alongside an existing Firewise discount. Its 2023 broker notice describes two discounts, 10% for protecting the structure and 5% for the immediate surroundings, about 14.5% together because the second applied after the first. To get either one, the property had to meet every item in that group.

The 2025 sheet splits the same ground into individual items, each counted as its own discount, and adds a completion discount and a community discount. A policyholder who has done the roof, vents and fence but not the windows can now earn credit for the items completed.

How do you apply for the FAIR Plan discounts?

Through a licensed broker. The sheet says “please contact a licensed broker,” and CDI points FAIR Plan customers to the FAIR Plan’s Broker Finder.

The 2023 broker notice gives more detail on process, though it describes the earlier program. It said the discounts were available on new business, at renewal and by midterm endorsement; that policyholders had to “complete and sign the Supplemental Application for Wildfire Hardening Discounts”; and that “all policies which receive the discounts will be inspected to confirm their eligibility,” with discounts removed if a property did not qualify. Ask your broker whether the same form and inspection apply under the 2025 schedule.

You do not have to prove Firewise status yourself. CDI’s FAQ says verifying Firewise USA participation “is the responsibility of the insurer, not the policyholder.”

What proof should you have ready?

CDI’s FAQ says you “may need to provide proof that the mitigation action was completed, or an inspection may be required,” and that savings start at the next policy period. The 2023 notice said every discounted policy would be inspected, so expect one unless your broker says that rule has changed. For the fence item:

• Photos from the house wall outward along each fence line, with a tape showing the 5 foot mark.
• The installer’s invoice naming the material and the length and gate replaced.
• Photos of the gate hardware and posts, since those sit inside the band too.

Keep the same file for the other items you claim. The completion discount depends on all ten.

What should you ask your broker?

• What the fence item and each other item is worth on its own; the FAIR Plan publishes only the totals.
• Whether the 2023 supplemental application and inspection rule still apply in the same form.
• How the 5 feet is measured, and whether a fence that starts inside the band must be replaced past 5 feet.

For private-carrier schedules, see wildfire mitigation discounts by insurer.