Noncombustible Fences and Gates for Zone 0 Compliance
For homeowners and property managers in California Fire Hazard Severity Zones.
Get a fast estimate with transparent pricing in the FireSmart Fence app.
Get an estimateThe problem
1.3 million feet of combustible fence attached to houses could need replacement by as soon as 2030.
Palisades and Eaton, surviving houses: 52% of the attached fences were combustible.† County-weighted, that is 262,000 homes — 248 miles of span at the wall.* Two fifths of those homes are in Los Angeles County. There is no statewide fence deadline. San Diego’s is February 28, 2029. Notes sit at the bottom of this page.
- Homes, combustible fence attached
- 262,000
- Feet that would have to change
- 1.3M
- Los Angeles County
- 102,081
- San Diego fence date
- 2029
County-weighted. Cross-check 268,590 flat statewide. 3% apart.
1,308,905 ft. 248 miles. Five feet, one attachment per house.
510,405 ft. Two fifths of the statewide estimate.
Feb 28. Year 3 full compliance. Adopted. Not an assumption.
The scope
3.2 million people live in Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zones.
3,228,949 people. 8.17% of California. Los Angeles County has 940,226 of them. San Diego has 559,512. Riverside 377,690. Orange 215,027. Ventura 197,322. San Bernardino 171,760.
Most of those people live in Southern California. Farther north, Very High covers most of the county: Plumas 78.6%. Nevada 74.5%. Siskiyou 65.3%. Amador 57.6%. Lake 57.4%.
Counties where the majority of residents live in a VHFHSZ
Plumas
15,564 78.6%
Nevada
76,199 74.5%
Siskiyou
28,803 65.3%
Amador
23,330 57.6%
Lake
39,156 57.4%
The Challenge
Zone 0 is Coming
Zone 0 refers to the 0–5 feet from exterior walls, decks, and attachments of buildings and structures inside of a FHSZ.
Combustible fence at the house is not landscaping. It is an attachment the rule names, and the replacement is a five-foot noncombustible span — not a new fence line.
Board of Forestry approved the final draft August 19, 2026. Although no statewide requirement is in effect yet, some counties and cities already have their own ordinances in effect. In LRA cities the rule as written attaches to Very High parcels.
The fence-specific text
Combustible fences and gates shall not be attached to an Occupied Structure. All fences and gates that are attached to an Occupied Structure, or come within one (1) foot of contact with an Occupied Structure, shall have a five (5) foot Noncombustible span from the point of attachment or the point closest to the Occupied Structure. After the effective date of this regulation, no new Combustible fences or gates (whether attached or parallel to the Occupied Structure) are permitted within five (5) feet of an Occupied Structure.
- The five-foot span is measured from the attachment, not the whole fence line.
- The no-new-combustible rule starts only after the regulation’s effective date. That date does not exist yet. On the LRA track it now covers new fences whether attached or parallel.
- The August 19 text still allows combustible repairs to an existing combustible fence.
- Existing structures are in a later compliance phase: 3–5 years in LRA, up to 5 years in SRA, on a local timeline. San Diego has already set Year 3 — fences — at February 28, 2029.
August 19, 2026 text from Title 14 CCR, LRA §1298.04(b).‡
The Solution
Firewise Fences is meeting the challenge of solving Zone 0 compliance at scale.
The FireSmart Fence app makes it quick: check your property, upload pictures, and get your estimate in as little as 24 hours. Unlike contractors that hide their profit margins behind lump-sum bids, you get transparent line-item pricing — materials, tax, labor, and overhead.
You have enough to worry about. Getting taken advantage of by a salesman isn’t one of them.
A licensed local contractor does the work. When you are ready, order the materials and schedule the install in the same app.
Sources and notes
The numbers behind the job.
Fine print for the figures on this page. CAL FIRE DINS records a fence as Combustible, Non Combustible, No Fence, or Unknown. It does not name wood, chain-link, or masonry.
* 1.3 million feet is the county-weighted estimate: 261,781 homes in Very High with a combustible fence attached, of 975,631 detached homes total, × 5 ft = 1,308,905 ft, 248 miles. “Replaced” means the five-foot non-combustible span at the house, not a new fence line. “As soon as 2030” assumes an effective date in 2027 and the LRA default of three years (CCR § 1298.04(c)(4)). Two thirds of that footage — 877,525 ft — is in the Local Responsibility Area on the three-year clock. The remaining 431,380 ft is SRA, where five years is the default and three the floor (§ 1299.03(e)(4)). The Board has not set that date. New construction would comply on the effective date itself. February 28, 2029 is not an assumption: City of San Diego, Zone 0 Guidelines for Existing Structures, Rev. 4/22/2026, §5.1 Year 3 — “This includes replacing fences and gates that do not comply.” Year 1 (Feb 28, 2027) is maintenance only. Flat statewide cross-check: 268,590 homes, 3% away. 70.8% of the stock sits under a county-measured DINS rate (n ≥ 100 surviving houses). Applying Palisades/Eaton 43.3% statewide is not supported: Riverside 10.9%, Orange 15.6%, Los Angeles 42.2%. Detached count is Census 2020 housing units × ACS 2020–2024 (B25024) share. DINS is a wildfire-exposed sample and records one fence flag per structure. No San Diego home-count or footage figure until the city’s map is reconciled with the state layer. Retrieved 2026-08-14. Estimate file. Data repo. San Diego guidelines.
† Palisades Fire: 6,845 structures destroyed (CAL FIRE incident page). Eaton Fire: 9,419 structures destroyed. Combined 16,264. CAL FIRE DINS, retrieved 2026-08-14. 82.7% of surviving Palisades/Eaton single-family houses had a fence attached. That 82.7% is any attached fence. DINS labels the field Combustible, Non Combustible, No Fence, or Unknown. It does not name wood, chain-link, vinyl, or masonry. Of those attached fences, 52.3% were combustible — 43.3% of surviving houses had a combustible fence attached. Orange County fences heavily in block wall and vinyl; Sonoma fences in wood. The 1.3 million feet uses the combustible-and-attached rate, county-weighted, not the undifferentiated four-out-of-five figure. Do not read surviving houses with a fence as evidence that fences protect houses. DINS cannot support a causal claim about attached fences and structure loss: combustible fence evidence often burns with the house and is logged as No Fence or Unknown. Attachment file. Methodology.
Detached homes in Very High. 72.5% of Very High housing units are detached single-family, against 57.1% statewide. Census 2020 housing units, with detached single-family estimated from each block group’s ACS 2020–2024 (B25024) share. 129 block groups (648 units) have no ACS share and contribute zero. Retrieved 2026-08-14. Zone 0 data repo.
Housing units in Very High. 2020 census count, same block-group assignment as the population file. 21.8% of SRA Very High units are vacant or seasonal, against 6.4% statewide — mountain second-home stock. A cabin nobody is in this month has the same fence. Retrieved 2026-08-14. Zone 0 data repo.
People in Very High. 8.17% of California. Census 2020 block-group centers of population against the CAL FIRE maps. 25,607 block groups; assigned populations sum to 39,538,223, the 2020 state count exactly. Retrieved 2026-08-14. Zone 0 data repo.
Combustible fence attached. County-weighted: 261,781 homes, 1,308,905 feet, 248 miles. Flat statewide cross-check: 268,590. 70.8% of Very High detached homes sit under a county-measured DINS rate. Los Angeles alone is 102,081 homes. This is the combustible share, not every attached fence. Retrieved 2026-08-14. Zone 0 data repo.
Fence deadline. Board of Forestry final draft, approved August 19, 2026, pending OAL: fence clauses (8) and (9) are Phase 2. LRA existing structures, 3–5 years after the effective date on a local timeline (§ 1298.04(c)(4)). SRA, within 5 years, not less than 3 (§ 1299.03(e)(4)). The effective date does not exist. The homepage’s “as soon as 2030” is a scenario: 2027 effective date + the LRA three-year default. Two thirds of the 1.3 million feet — 877,525 ft — sits in LRA on that three-year clock; 431,380 ft is SRA, where five years is the default. New construction complies on the effective date itself. Zone 0 guide.
First local fence date. City of San Diego, Zone 0 Guidelines for Existing Structures, Rev. 4/22/2026, §5.1 Year 3: “This includes replacing fences and gates that do not comply.” §4.6 requires a 5-foot non-combustible span where a fence attaches. Year 1 (Feb 28, 2027) is maintenance only — quoting 2027 for a fence obligation is wrong. New construction already live from Feb 28, 2026. No San Diego home-count or footage until the city’s map is reconciled with the state layer. San Diego guidelines PDF.
Zone 0 fence text. August 19, 2026 text from Title 14 CCR, LRA §1298.04(b). The SRA track at §1299.03(d) is not identical: it stays one paragraph and does not carry the parallel-fence clause. Full citations live on the Zone 0 guide.