Last month, dozens of residents called the North County Fire Protection District with concerns about updates to the fire code, including the controversial “Zone Zero” policy. In my opinion, they had every reason to be worried, and now they have every reason to be frustrated.
As a young homeowner who had finally saved up enough to buy an older single-family house in North County, I was shocked to learn that the wood fence and gate attached to my home, which are standard features in most properties, could now be deemed illegal under new fire code rules. The reason? Because it’s made of wood and is within 5 feet of my home, the government now considers it a significant fire risk.
Under Gov. Gavin Newsom’s executive order implementing AB 3074, and through the local adoption of ordinances 2025-02 and 2025-03, this far-reaching mandate is the latest headache for homeowners in San Diego County. Zone Zero rules are part of the 2026 California Wildland-Urban Interface Code, and they require property owners to remove all combustible materials within five feet of their home. While that may seem common sense at first glance, the devil is in the details.
Zone Zero requires the removal of everything from wooden fences to mulch to excess potted plants; all basic features of our North County homes. Especially upsetting is that these fences help maintain property lines, increase home security, and keep pets and kids safe. Zone Zero turns them into liabilities by executive order.
Estimates indicate that complying with these new rules will cost homeowners thousands, with fence replacements alone exceeding $15,000. For large properties in Fallbrook, this estimate is no doubt on the low end. Statewide, this total could amount to billions of dollars of burden on working families, older adults and all of us who are simply trying to keep food on the table. The cost of living is already astronomical in California, and this is Sacramento adding yet another mandated bill for families.
But here’s what’s even more frustrating: the North County fire board held the first hearing on adopting this fire code with zero pushback to Sacramento; no resistance and no advocacy for local control. No voice was raised for taxpayers who will ultimately shoulder the cost, even with people voicing their concerns to the fire board. Despite the wave of residents’ concern, there was no pushback to Sacramento.
It’s a classic Sacramento trope: give up a little freedom for safety. This is just another example of gross government overreach.
Let me be 100% clear: I fully support defensible space and fire-wise communities, and I even dedicated a chapter in my book, “California’s Toughest Challenges and the Common Sense Conservative Ways to Solve Them,” to it. Homeowners like me play a vital role in wildfire preparedness. But Zone Zero isn’t a realistic mandate; it’s a government overreach that punishes the very people trying to do the right thing, while ignoring the root causes of catastrophic fires.
Zone Zero is a distraction from Sacramento’s real failures.
It’s no secret that our forests are dangerously overgrown. Prescribed burns by local fire districts are often blocked by bureaucratic agencies like the California Air Resources Board. This is ironic as wildfire emissions in 2020 essentially negated 18 years of reductions in greenhouse gas emissions from other sectors by a factor of two. Forest thinning is delayed by lawsuits and endless environmental red tape. Homeless encampments with open flames in canyons are ignored, despite posing a massive fire risk. California is burning, and Sacramento is blaming your fence, rather than fixing the root causes.
While Sacramento mandates homeowners rip out wood fences that protect our properties, the governor resides on an 8-acre estate protected by taxpayer-funded Highway patrol officers.
It’s time we demand better of our local leaders and stop rubber-stamping Sacramento’s mistakes. Instead, we need local leaders who advocate for the aggressive thinning of state-managed wildlands, permitting reform that allows controlled burns to occur safely, firebreaks and defensible space that set the foundation of wildfire safety (Zones 1 and 2). We must enable private land management, not force mandates from Sacramento.
Zone Zero may seem like a well-intended policy at first glance, but it’s really just another example of how out-of-touch Sacramento has become. It pushes responsibility on homeowners, while giving the government a pass for decades of neglect.
In North County, we need to start pushing back.
Marting is a wildfire policy author and small business owner in Fallbrook.