Am I in Zone Zero? How to check a California address

You are in Zone Zero, in the legal sense, if your California home sits in the State Responsibility Area (any hazard class) or in a Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone that your city or county has adopted, and you can check both on CAL FIRE’s map viewers. If you are covered, the rule will ask you to keep the first 5 feet around the house clear of combustibles and to make the first 5 feet of any fence or gate that meets the house noncombustible.

Being covered means the Board of Forestry’s Zone 0 rule applies to you from its effective date (when that is). What the rule requires is on the Zone Zero California law page.

Who does Zone Zero apply to under state law?

Coverage comes from two statutes, one for each kind of fire protection area.

Both statutes put the duty on “a person who owns, leases, controls, operates, or maintains” the building. A Board FAQ dated 17 September 2025 gave CAL FIRE’s estimate of 1.25 million structures in the SRA and 870,000 in LRA Very High zones.

The hazard class counts differently in each row. An SRA parcel rated Moderate is still covered, while a city parcel rated High is not.

How do I check my address on the map?

The Board’s guidance points readers to the State Fire Marshal’s page, osfm.fire.ca.gov/fhsz. CAL FIRE’s viewer apps answer the same question:

1. Open CAL FIRE’s Fire Hazard Severity Zone and Local PIO Viewer, or use our address check. The viewer (FHSZ means Fire Hazard Severity Zone) shows “FHSZ in SRA effective April 1, 2024 and FHSZ in LRA as recommended by the State Fire Marshal in January-March 2025,” plus local contacts for the LRA adoption process.
2. Type the street address into the map’s search and zoom in until you can see your parcel’s edges.
3. Read the responsibility area first. If it says SRA, you are covered whatever the hazard color. Stop here.
4. If it says LRA, read the hazard class. Very High means you are covered once your city or county adopts that map, or already if its current adopted map also shows Very High. High or Moderate means the state rule does not reach you.
5. If your parcel is on a zone boundary, or the result surprises you, check your city or county’s adopted map and ask its fire marshal. In the LRA, the adopted local map is the one that counts (explained below).

One trap: CAL FIRE also runs an older app titled simply “Fire Hazard Severity Zone Viewer.” Its LRA layer is the 2007 to 2011 recommendation. It is fine for SRA questions, but a city parcel can show a different class there than on the 2025 maps.

What changed with the 2025 LRA maps?

The State Fire Marshal re-mapped local areas in early 2025, region by region. San Mateo Consolidated Fire reports a second phase on 24 February 2025 covering 125 cities and counties, and CAL FIRE issued Los Angeles County’s maps on 24 March 2025. The SRA maps had already been updated, effective 1 April 2024.

State law gives each city or county 120 days after receiving the recommendations to adopt them by ordinance. It may add areas, but Government Code 51179(b)(3) says it “shall not decrease the level of fire hazard severity zone as identified by the State Fire Marshal.” So a neighborhood the State Fire Marshal moved into Very High in 2025 ends up inside the state rule once the city adopts, even if it was never in a Very High zone before. Because Government Code 51182 refers to the zone “designated by the local agency,” the adopted local map is the one that controls. If your city has not adopted yet, ask the fire marshal where the ordinance stands.

What if my home is in a High or Moderate zone?

In the LRA, the state Zone 0 rule does not apply to High or Moderate parcels. Two things can still bring Zone 0 to you:

• A local ordinance. AB 1455 lets a local fire agency adopt the requirements or stricter ones. Local Zone 0 ordinances exist in Los Angeles, San Diego, Berkeley, Shasta County, Ventura County and South Lake Tahoe. Check Zone 0 rules by city and, for LA, Los Angeles Zone Zero.
• Your insurer. The Board’s guidance notes that insurers use their own models and fuel rules, and that some require the Wildfire Prepared Home Essential designation from IBHS (the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety) before they will insure a home.

Does Zone Zero apply to renters, condos and HOAs?

The statutes apply to whoever “owns, leases, controls, operates, or maintains” the building, so a tenant is named alongside the owner. How work is split is a lease question that the rule does not answer. If you rent, read the lease and raise the list with the landlord before doing anything structural, such as swapping a gate.

For condos and planned developments, PRC 4291(j) defines “person” to include an “organization, partnership, limited liability company, or corporation,” so an HOA that controls the landscaping around a building falls within the wording. The Board’s guidance says the rule covers buildings “regardless of occupancy type,” and calls out shared walls, carports and outdoor storage in multi-family complexes. Zone 0 also stops at the property line (1298.04(a)), so on a small lot part of the strip may be your neighbor’s or the HOA’s ground. A new house or ADU next door does not add Zone 0 work on your side.

What should I do once I know?

If you are covered, read what Zone Zero is and list what sits in your 5 feet, starting with any wood fence or gate that touches the house. If you plan to replace a fence or gate near the house, make the first 5 feet noncombustible; a new wood one there is barred from the day the rule takes effect. Then ask your fire agency two questions: has it adopted its own Zone 0 ordinance, and in the LRA, will it use the 3 year timeline in 14 CCR 1298.04(c)(4) or a longer one up to 5 years? If you are not covered, the state rule asks nothing of you. The Board’s guidance still recommends evaluating every structure, since history shows fires can burn “deep into towns and cities.”