California struggled for years to adopt new landscaping rules that dictate what residents in fire-prone areas can plant and build within five feet of their homes, known as Zone Zero.
Experts were deadlocked on how much to ask of homeowners, versus the benefit in fire protection. The committee drafting the regulations even stopped working on them for two years, blowing past a state-mandated deadline. When the L.A. fires in 2025 prompted action, some of the proposals experts did agree on still enraged homeowners.
Yet last week, California managed to pull it off — navigating the public backlash that has derailed and limited efforts by other Western states.
“I think it’s worth just noting what a good job this board has been able to do,” said Matt Weiner, chief executive and founder of Megafire Action, a national advocacy group working to end the wildfire crisis. “The board was able to find a functioning compromise that is still grounded in science … while addressing the biggest of the concerns from the community in the context of really unscientific opposition.”
As California debated Zone Zero, multiple states attempted to speed-run its decades-long approach: Create science-based maps identifying high fire hazard areas. Then develop fire-safe building codes and landscaping rules.
Like California, they proposed stricter landscaping rules closer to the house — with one zone that extends 100 feet, one within 30 feet and one for the first five feet.
Following a devastating fire year, Oregon’s attempt to move at a breakneck pace prompted immense backlash. In response, all but one legislator voted to abandon the regulations.
The state of Washington tried, too. It ultimately opted for new building codes, but its Legislature dropped landscaping requirements.
Colorado, in response, took a more measured approach from the get-go, deciding to apply landscaping requirements only to new construction, not existing homes.
“We are still in the lead here,” said Weiner, a California native. However, “everyone recognizes the science is pretty unambiguous about the benefits of taking action like this.”
Oregon’s effort
After fires over Labor Day in 2020 scorched thousands of structures and killed nine people, Oregon passed a sweeping law that touched utilities, forest management, building codes and landscaping rules.
Oregon State University created hazard maps, and the state mailed the details to high-hazard addresses. But the plan quickly ran into trouble. The state had done little to educate residents that the maps were intended only to determine where regulations would apply, fire protection advocates said.
The rollout happened to coincide with an insurance reckoning that led to rising rates and cancellations. Residents accused the maps of worsening the insurance crisis and tanking property values. (California leaders deal with similar unfounded accusations.)
As the state proposed major mandates that could cost homeowners thousands, it offered little support to help them comply, advocates said.
“I think we needed much more time to bring the public along with the fact that the map was really intended to be a tool to direct state and local resources — like funding, technical assistance, our Oregon Conservation Corps — to those areas that needed the most help,” said Mary Kyle McCurdy, associate director at 1000 Friends of Oregon, a nonprofit focused on responsible land use planning that championed the original law.
Despite the setbacks, “We are making progress,” she said. Relying on voluntary participation, though, “is still a much longer process.”
A measured approach in Colorado
Colorado learned from Oregon’s mistakes as it embarked on creating regulations following the 2021 Marshall fire.
Early on, its Legislature opted to apply landscaping requirements only to new construction. As a result, developers and builders are the ones who have to make sure their designs comply. Homeowners don’t have to change their landscaping. But far fewer homes will be protected.
“I think that’s a huge piece of what made the appetite a little bit better in Colorado,” said Rebecca Samulski, executive director of Fire Adapted Colorado, a statewide wildfire resilience organization.
In other wildfire news
Congress is getting increasingly concerned that online platforms that allow gambling on global events — including wildfires — will encourage arson, my colleague Hannah Fry reports. In January 2025, L.A. Times writer Bill Shaikin noticed Polymarket was letting users bet on how large the Palisades fire would burn. Then in 2026, High Country News’ Kylie Mohr found a new site, Wyldfyre, focused solely on wildfire betting.
There are already examples of people meddling in real-world events for a payout. An individual in France allegedly warmed an airport temperature sensor to win a bet about the day’s high temperature.
A firefighter from the San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation died after a medical emergency while fighting the Frijoles fire in New Mexico Sunday, Shaun Griswold reports for Native News Online. More than 50 firefighters have died on duty this year across the country. Tribes have a long history of firefighting on fully Indigenous crews and with U.S. government ones, even as fires have ravaged their own homelands.
As California nears the end of its legislative session, a number of wildfire bills — some in response to the 2025 L.A. fires — still have a shot of reaching Gov. Gavin Newsom’s desk. One would create guidelines to ensure smoke-damaged homes are safe before residents return. Another would create a dedicated unit in Cal Fire to test new wildfire tech. Others would create a certification program for fire-safe building and landscaping practices in part with the hope of convincing insurance companies to lower rates.
More in climate news
After years of impasse between Western states trying to divvy up the dwindling Colorado River, the Trump administration accepted an offer from downstream states to reduce their use, while allowing upstream states to maintain the same use, my colleague Ian James reports. Nevada promptly sued, arguing the plan is untenable for Las Vegas. The Trump administration said the downstream and upstream states were treated differently because the federal government has different “responsibilities and authorities” in the different states.
Los Angeles recorded a West Nile virus fatality and California hit a five-year high in cases, following an abnormally warm winter and a blistering March heat wave, The Times’s Clara Harter reports. While experts attributed the recent frenzy of headlines on insect-borne diseases partly to sensationalism, they also said more Californians will be at risk for certain diseases as climate change continues to warm our region.
Democrats and Republicans have united against a common enemy: data centers. As communities across the country revolt against local plans to build expansive facilities and new energy infrastructure to power them, a Politico analysis by Andrew Howard found that not a single one of the more than 100 campaign ads this cycle that mention data centers presented them positively.
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Listen to L.A. Times reporter Hayley Smith talking about the state of California’s intended buildout of offshore wind energy, given the antipathy of the Trump administration, on the new Boiling Point Podcast.
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