Zone Zero Landscaping Rules in Brentwood | The First 5 Feet
Landscaping · Brentwood

Zone Zero Landscaping in Brentwood

The ember-resistant zone turns the first 5 feet of your garden into a noncombustible band: no bark mulch, no dead material, no fuel against the walls. In Brentwood, LAFD enforces it alongside its existing brush clearance program, and your mature trees are not the target: ground-level fuel is.
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The first five feet

What Zone 0 changes at ground level

Both of Brentwood's recent fires were ember events. Embers do not need a wall of flame to take a house: they need a receptive bed of fuel within five feet of it. Bark mulch under the windows is exactly that bed.

Keep or add in 0-5 ft
  • Decomposed granite, gravel, river rock
  • Pavers, flagstone, concrete walkways
  • Well-maintained trees limbed away from the roof, deadwood removed
  • Irrigated, low-growing plantings where the final rule allows
  • Metal planters on hardscape
Out of 0-5 ft
  • Bark mulch and wood chips
  • Dead or dying plants, dry grass
  • Firewood stacked against the wall
  • Juniper, italian cypress, and other high-resin shrubs against siding
  • Wood trellises and climbing vines on walls
The trees-and-shade question, answered honestly: early drafts of the state rule drew pushback because residents feared losing mature shade trees, and the April 2026 draft scaled back blanket vegetation removal. Brentwood's canyon sycamores and oaks are part of why people live here. The rule as drafted targets ground-level fuel and deadwood, not healthy maintained canopy. Verify specifics with LAFD before removing any tree, and note that City of Los Angeles protected-tree rules apply to native oaks and sycamores regardless of fire code.
Design, not deprivation

A compliant Brentwood garden still looks like Brentwood

The conversion is a materials swap in a narrow band: DG where mulch was, stone where bark was, pots on pavers where foundation shrubs were. Past five feet, Zones 1 and 2 rules are the ones you already know from LAFD brush clearance.

On canyon lots the same work doubles as defensible space for engine access: crews defending homes on a one-road canyon street triage by which houses look survivable from the driveway.

Pair it with home hardening
Landscaping Questions

Zone 0 landscaping questions from Brentwood

Do I have to remove my mature trees?

No. The April 2026 draft scaled back blanket vegetation removal, and well-maintained trees with canopies cleared of deadwood and limbed up away from the roof are generally allowed. The rule targets fuel at ground level in the first five feet, not Brentwood's tree canopy.

What happens to the coral trees on San Vicente?

Nothing, as far as Zone 0 is concerned. The San Vicente median coral trees are street trees on public land, far outside any home's ember-resistant zone. Zone 0 is about the five feet around your own structures.

What replaces bark mulch against the house?

Noncombustible ground cover: decomposed granite, gravel, pavers, stone, or bare soil. Brentwood gardens already lean on DG paths and gravel courtyards; the same materials solve the first five feet.

Can I keep any plants in the first five feet?

The draft regulations allow limited, well-irrigated, low-growing plantings in some configurations, and local implementation will set specifics. Treat lush foundation plantings as the thing to redesign, and verify the final rule before replanting.

Redesign the five feet once, correctly

A licensed contractor maps your Zone 0 band, prices the materials swap, and leaves the garden you actually want.

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