California passes toughest wildfire rules in the U.S. for home landscaping

Wildfire experts have found that homes with dense vegetation are at higher risk of burning, like in the Palisades Fire in 2025. New regulations in California require homeowners to manage plants within five feet of a structure. Mario Tama/Getty Images hide caption As severe wildfires burn across the Western U.S., California has adopted the toughest rules in the country to help protect communities from burning. Homeowners in wildfire-prone areas will be required to limit plants within five feet of their house, a protective measure that wildfire experts say can help prevent homes from igniting. Research shows that dry, dense vegetation around buildings can cause wildfires to spread .

Missing media or need the complete publisher report? Open NPR News

Scoop News DeskCalifornia · Published Wednesday, August 19, 2026 at 11:19 PM UTCUpdated Thursday, August 20, 2026 at 9:27 PM UTC

Scoop News reporting summary

The text below was supplied by the Scoop Newsroom app. Third-party reporting is attributed in the source panel.

More than 57,000 homes and buildings have been destroyed in California in the last decade, according to state regulators. "California's faced an existential crisis that has affected our health, that has affected our finances related to our ability to buy and sell homes, to insure homes and has put us in a very precarious place," testified Yana Valachovic of the University of California Cooperative Extension at Wednesday's hearing, who also advised the state on the new rules. Insurance companies in California are also required to provide discounts to homeowners that make their homes more fire-resistant. The rules will apply to new construction right away, but will be phased in for existing structures, affecting almost 2 million homes in high-risk areas.

Breaking news moves fast. Follow @Will466513 on X for breaking news alerts. Follow on X →

Story timeline