APCIA Statement on California Board of Forestry Approval of Revised Zone 0 Regulations

SACRAMENTO, CA. - The following statement by the American Property Casualty Insurance Association (APCIA) is in response to the vote of the California Board of Forestry and Fire Protection to approve the revised version of the Zone 0 regulations. This statement can be attributed to Mark Sektnan, APCIA vice president of state government relations.

"Insurers support the state's continued progress toward implementing Zone 0 and the goal of reducing wildfire risk around homes. The revised proposal includes positive improvements, but important concerns remain about whether compliance will represent a sufficiently consistent and verifiable level of mitigation across properties and communities.

"From an insurance perspective, that consistency matters. If different vegetation conditions, temporary exceptions, local alternatives, and implementation timelines can all fall under the same "Zone 0 compliant" designation, it becomes more difficult to determine and quantify the actual risk reduction associated with compliance.

"We want Zone 0 to deliver meaningful, measurable risk reduction that can ultimately be recognized by insurers and understood by consumers. If the public is led to believe that compliance provides a level of protection that the standard does not consistently deliver, it risks creating a false sense of security and, over time, undermining consumer and policymaker confidence in mitigation efforts more broadly.

"This revised regulation is an important statewide baseline. Local jurisdictions and homeowners should now move forward to implement the regulations. Consistent with wildfire science, local governments and homeowners should go further than the regulation and implement a noncombustible zone in the five feet around homes to truly protect their communities."