Landowner Guidance

California · Wildfire Defensible Space

California Defensible Space: 100-Foot Requirement and First-Five-Feet Guidance

Use this guide to distinguish the statewide defensible-space requirement currently covered here from CAL FIRE's practical first-five-feet guidance.

Practical guide

What should I know?

Required or recommended?

Requirements and guidance. Some items are legal-status claims and others are recommendations. Use each item's label and applicability details before relying on it.

Defensible-space requirement

Conditional requirement

California PRC 4291 requires 100 feet of defensible space around covered structures in the State Responsibility Area, subject to the property-line rule and potentially stricter local rules.

Applicability, timing, evidence, and source

Applicability

California person who owns, leases, controls, operates, or maintains a building or structure in the State Responsibility Area.

Audience: California person who owns, leases, controls, operates, or maintains a building or structure

Conditions: The building or structure is in the State Responsibility Area.

Local check required. A local authority may affect whether or how this proposition applies.

Supporting evidence

A person who owns, leases, controls, operates, or maintains a building or structure in the state responsibility area shall at all times do all of the following: (1) (A) Maintain defensible space of 100 feet from each side and from the front and rear of the structure, but not beyond the property line, except as provided in subparagraph (B).
A greater distance than that required under subparagraph (A) may be required by state law, local ordinance, rule, or regulation. Fuel modification beyond the property line may only be required by state law, local ordinance, rule, or regulation in order to maintain 100 feet of defensible space from a structure. Fuel modification on adjacent property shall only be conducted following written consent by the adjacent landowner.

Official source

First-five-feet guidance

Guidance

CAL FIRE recommends treating the first five feet from a home as the most important ember-resistant area, including using hardscape such as gravel, pavers, or concrete and avoiding combustible bark or mulch.

Applicability, timing, evidence, and source

Applicability

California property owners applying CAL FIRE defensible-space guidance around a home.

Audience: California property owner

Supporting evidence

The first five feet from your home is the most important. Keeping the area closest to buildings, structures, and decks clear will prevent embers from igniting materials that can spread the fire to your home. Why? Learn more about the importance of Zone 0 and the scientific research that demonstrates the importance of this zone with the ( Zone 0 At-A-Glance ) #### What to do: - Use hardscape like gravel, pavers, or concrete. No combustible bark or mulch.

Official source

Recordkeeping

What records should I keep?

The source-backed items on this page do not assert a specific record field to keep.

Practical next step

What should I do next?

  1. Determine whether the PRC 4291 defensible-space requirement applies to the structure before treating it as a legal duty.
  2. Use the first-five-feet item as CAL FIRE guidance alongside, not instead of, the defensible-space requirement that applies.
  3. Open the official source below when you need the underlying agency language or more context.

Official sources

Sources used on this page

Verification

Verification status

The latest recorded approval for every statement on this page is system validation, not founder manual review.

Latest validation/review date: 2026-08-14.

How review provenance and source validation work

Related guidance

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