Fire safety: fire hazard severity zones: defensible space: State Fire Marshal.

Existing law requires the State Fire Marshal to classify lands within state responsibility areas into fire hazard severity zones, and, by regulation, designate fire hazard severity zones and assign to each zone a rating reflecting the degree of severity of fire hazard that is expected to prevail in the zone. Existing law requires the State Fire Marshal to periodically review designated and rated zones and, as necessary, revise zones or their ratings or repeal the designation of zones. Existing law also requires the State Fire Marshal to identify areas in the state that are not state responsibility areas as moderate, high, and very high fire hazard severity zones based on consistent statewide criteria and based on the severity of fire hazard that is expected to prevail in those areas, and to periodically review and make recommendations relative to very high fire hazard severity zones. Existing law requires a local agency, within 30 days after receiving a transmittal from the State Fire Marshal that identifies those fire hazard severity zones, to make the information available for public review and comment, and, within 120 days of receiving recommendations from the State Fire Marshal, to designate, by ordinance transmitted to the State Board of Forestry and Fire Protection, moderate, high, and very high fire hazard severity zones in its jurisdiction. This bill would revise and recast the above-described provisions applicable to fire hazard severity zones in state responsibility areas and in areas that are not state responsibility areas. The bill would, as applied to areas in the state that are not state responsibility areas, require the State Fire Marshal, no less than once every 5 years, to both identify areas in the state as moderate, high, and very high fire hazard severity zones, and review and make recommendations relative to these designations, as provided. The bill would require the State Fire Marshal to provide an opportunity, pursuant to the Administrative Procedure Act, for the public to review and comment on the fire hazard severity zone maps of areas that are not state responsibility areas before the State Fire Marshal submits them to the local agency, and would require a local agency to transmit a copy of its ordinance to the State Fire Marshal instead of the State Board of Forestry and Fire Protection. The bill would also require the State Fire Marshal, as applied to lands within state responsibility areas, to review the fire hazard severity zone designations at least once every 5 years. This bill would, as applied to both state responsibility areas and lands that are not state responsibility areas, authorize the State Fire Marshal, in periods between the State Fire Marshal's review of areas of the state for recommendations regarding an area's fire hazard severity zone, to confer with entities, including, but not limited to, public agencies, tribes, and nonprofit organizations, on actions that may impact the degree of fire hazard in an area or the area's recommended fire hazard severity zone designation. The bill would authorize the State Fire Marshal to provide a written response to an entity on actions that may impact the degree of fire hazard, and would require this written response to be posted on the State Fire Marshal's internet website. The bill would authorize those entities to provide information to the State Fire Marshal on actions the entity has taken or plans to take before the next review that may impact the degree of fire hazard in an area or the area's fire hazard severity zone designation. The bill would authorize the State Fire Marshal to consider this information in the next review, and would require any documentation provided to the State Fire Marshal to be posted on the State Fire Marshal's internet website. The bill would authorize the State Fire Marshal to require a regulatory fee from an entity to cover the State Fire Marshal's costs associated with these processes. Existing law requires the State Board of Forestry and Fire Protection to adopt regulations implementing minimum fire safety standards related to defensible space, as provided. Under existing law, these regulations apply to the perimeters and access to all residential, commercial, and industrial building construction within state responsibility areas approved after January 1, 1991, and within lands classified and designated as very high fire hazard severity zones, that are not within state responsibility areas, after July 1, 2021, as provided. Existing law requires the board, on and after July 1, 2021, to periodically update regulations for fuel breaks and greenbelts near communities, as provided. This bill would, among other things, instead require the State Fire Marshal to adopt or amend regulations implementing the above-described minimum fire safety standards, as provided, applicable only to new building permits, or to parcel or tentative maps or other developments approved after the effective date of the regulations, as provided. The bill would also require the State Fire Marshal to periodically update regulations for fuel breaks and greenbelts near communities, as provided. The bill would provide that the above-described regulations adopted by the board before January 1, 2025, shall remain valid and in effect after that date, and would authorize the State Fire Marshal to amend the board's regulations and adopt new regulations after January 1, 2025, as provided. Existing law requires the State Board of Forestry and Fire Protection, on or before July 1, 2022, to develop criteria for and maintain a "Fire Risk Reduction Community" list of local agencies located in state responsibility areas, or a very high fire hazard severity zone that is not in a state responsibility area, that meet best practices for local fire planning, as provided. This bill would, among other things, instead require the State Fire Marshal to develop the above-described criteria for and maintain the above-described "Fire Risk Reduction Community" list of local agencies, as provided. The bill would provide that the above-described criteria adopted by the board before January 1, 2025, shall remain valid and in effect after that date, and would authorize the State Fire Marshal to amend the board's criteria and adopt new criteria after January 1, 2025. The bill would also require the State Fire Marshal to develop criteria for and maintain a "Fire Risk Reduction Community" list for neighborhoods or communities, not including public agencies, located in a state responsibility area or a very high fire hazard severity zone, that meet best practices for reducing wildfire risk, as provided. The bill would require the State Fire Marshal to post both of these lists on its internet website. Existing law requires a person who owns, leases, controls, operates, or maintains a building or structure in, upon, or adjoining a mountainous area, forest-covered lands, shrub-covered lands, grass-covered lands, or land that is covered with flammable material to maintain a defensible space of 100 feet from each side and from the front and rear of the structure, as specified. Existing law also requires a person who owns, leases, controls, operates, or maintains an occupied dwelling or occupied structure in, upon, or adjoining a mountainous area, forest-covered land, shrub-covered land, grass-covered land, or land that is covered with flammable material, which area or land is within a very high fire hazard severity zone designated by the local agency, to maintain a defensible space of 100 feet from each side and from the front and rear of the structure, as specified. A violation of either of these requirements is a crime. Existing law requires the persons described above to use more intense fuel reductions between 5 and 30 feet around the structure, and to create an ember-resistant zone within 5 feet of the structure, based on regulations promulgated by the State Board of Forestry and Fire Protection, as provided. Existing law requires the board, in consultation with the State Fire Marshal, to develop, periodically update, and post on its internet website a guidance document on fuels management, as provided. This bill would revise and recast these provisions by, among other things, instead requiring the State Fire Marshal to promulgate the regulations, as provided, related to fuel reductions between 5 and 30 feet around the structure and the creation of an ember-resistant zone within 5 feet of the structure. The bill would provide that the above-described regulations promulgated by the board before January 1, 2025, shall remain valid and in effect after that date, and would authorize the State Fire Marshal to amend the board's regulations and adopt new regulations after January 1, 2025, as provided. The bill would instead require the State Fire Marshal to develop, periodically update, and post on its internet website the above-described guidance documents on fuels management, and to develop guidance documents with suggestions for creating an ember-resistant zone within 5 feet of a structure, as provided. Existing law requires the State Fire Marshal or the local agency having jurisdiction over the property to provide notice to affected residents describing specified components of the above-referenced defensible space requirements before imposing penalties for a violation of these requirements, as provided. Under existing law, the requirements for an ember-resistant zone, as provided, do not take effect for new structures until the State Board of Forestry and Fire Protection updates the applicable regulations and the guidance documents, as provided, and does not take effect for existing structures until one year after the effective date for the new structures. This bill would eliminate the State Fire Marshal's above-described duty to make reasonable efforts to provide notice to affected residents, as provided. The bill would provide that the above-described requirements for an ember-resistant zone do not take effect for new structures until (1) either the board updates the regulations and guidance documents, if updated before January 1, 2025, or (2) the State Fire Marshal updates the regulations and guidance documents, if after January 1, 2025. Existing law defines a person, for the above-described defensible space requirements applicable to a person who owns, leases, controls, operates, or maintains a building or structure in, upon, or adjoining a mountainous area, forest-covered lands, shrub-covered lands, grass-covered lands, or land that is covered with flammable material, as a private individual, organization, partnership, limited liability company, or corporation. This bill would expand that definition of a person to also include a public agency. By imposing new requirements on local agencies, and because a violation of the requirements would be a crime or expand the scope of an existing crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. This bill would also make conforming changes. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that with regard to certain mandates no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason. With regard to any other mandates, this bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs so mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.