California Legal Codes and Statutes

Article 3 - Responsibility for Fire Protection

California Public Resources Code — §§ 4125-4137

Sections (14)

§ 4125

Amended (as amended by Stats. 1989, Ch. 380) by Stats. 1998, Ch. 65, Sec. 15. Effective June 9, 1998. Applicable from June 1, 1998, by Sec. 18 of Ch. 65. Note: Ch. 65 (pursuant to Sec. 20) supersedes, and precludes operation of, Stats. 1997, 1st Ex. Sess., Ch. 7.

(a)The board shall classify all lands within the state, without regard to any classification of lands made by or for any federal agency or purpose, for the purpose of determining areas in which the financial responsibility of preventing and suppressing fires is primarily the responsibility of the state. The prevention and suppression of fires in all areas that are not so classified is primarily the responsibility of local or federal agencies, as the case may be.
(b)On or before July 1, 1991, and every 5th year thereafter, the department shall provide copies of maps identifying the boundaries of lands classified as state responsibility pursuant to subdivision (a) to the county assessor for every county containing any of those lands. The department shall also notify county assessors of any changes to state responsibility areas within the county resulting from periodic boundary modifications approved by the board.
(c)A notice shall be posted at the offices of the county recorder, county assessor, and county planning agency that identifies the location of the map, and of any information received by the county subsequent to the receipt of the map regarding changes to state responsibility areas within the county.
§ 4126

Repealed and added by Stats. 1965, Ch. 1144.

The board shall include within state responsibility areas all of the following lands:

(a)Lands covered wholly or in part by forests or by trees producing or capable of producing forest products.
(b)Lands covered wholly or in part by timber, brush, undergrowth, or grass, whether of commercial value or not, which protect the soil from excessive erosion, retard runoff of water or accelerate water percolation, if such lands are sources of water which is available for irrigation or for domestic or industrial use.
(c)Lands in areas which are principally used or useful for range or forage purposes, which are contiguous to the lands described in subdivisions (a) and (b).
§ 4127

Amended by Stats. 1991, Ch. 653, Sec. 1.

The board shall not include within state responsibility areas any of the following lands:

(a)Lands owned or controlled by the federal government or any agency of the federal government.
(b)Lands within the exterior boundaries of any city, except a city and county with a population of less than 25,000 if, at the time the city and county government is established, the county contains no municipal corporations.
(c)Any other lands within the state which do not come within any of the classes which are described in Section 4126.
§ 4128

Repealed and added by Stats. 1965, Ch. 1144.

In establishing boundaries of state responsibility areas, the board may, for purposes of administrative convenience, designate roads, pipelines, streams, or other recognizable landmarks as arbitrary boundaries.

§ 4129

Amended by Stats. 1998, Ch. 972, Sec. 17. Effective January 1, 1999.

The board of supervisors of any county may provide by ordinance that the county elects to assume responsibility for the prevention and suppression of all fires on all land in the county, including lands within state responsibility areas when the Director of Forestry and Fire Protection concurs in accordance with criteria adopted by the State Board of Forestry and Fire Protection, but not including lands owned or controlled by the federal government or any agency of the federal government or lands within the exterior boundaries of any city. After the effective date of the contract referred to in Section 4133, the county shall exercise for the duration of the contract all the duty, power, authority, and responsibility for the prevention and suppression of all fires on all land in the county for which the county is authorized by this section to elect to assume responsibility.

§ 4129.1

Added by Stats. 1987, Ch. 340, Sec. 1.

When the incorporation of a city removes land from a state responsibility area and the county continues to provide residential fire service for the newly incorporated city and remains under contract to provide fire service for the state responsibility area, the county shall, during the three years subsequent to incorporation, contract with the city to continue to provide fire service to the area removed from the state responsibility area under the same terms and conditions as under the state contract. The county may bill the newly incorporated city for actual revenue lost under the state contract because of removal of land from the state responsibility area during that period, but may not, during the three-year period, require the city to pay an amount greater than that apportioned for the affected area under the state contract.

If the budget of the department is revised to reflect the removal of the affected lands from a state responsibility area and payments to the county are accordingly reduced, the county may bill the newly incorporated city for the allocable decrease, or if the amount cannot be readily ascertained, the county may, after the effective date of the new budget, charge the city an amount equal to the total payment to the county divided by the total acres of the state responsibility area times the removed acres which are annexed to the city.

This section does not change any power, duty, or responsibility of the department. This section does not require the department to base its budget on per acre costs and does not impose any requirement that the department implement or design any formula or budget.

This section applies only in counties with a population greater than 8,000,000.

§ 4130

Added by Stats. 1965, Ch. 1144.

The board shall classify all lands within state responsibility areas into types of land based on cover, beneficial use of water from watersheds, probable damage from erosion, and fire risks and hazards, and shall determine the intensity of protection to be given to each such type of land. A plan for adequate statewide fire protection of state responsibility areas shall be prepared by the board in which all land of each type shall be assigned the same intensity of protection, and the estimated cost of such intensity of protection shall be determined.

§ 4131

Added by Stats. 1965, Ch. 1144.

In the preparation of budgets for fire protection, the total funds available or estimated to be available shall be allocated to the areas to be protected in conformance to such fire protection plan. If the funds available are less than the estimated adequate cost of such plan the board shall determine whether the intensities of fire protection shall be reduced or withdrawn, maintaining uniform consideration for all lands in each type.

§ 4132

Added by Stats. 1965, Ch. 1144.

In those counties assuming responsibility pursuant to Section 4129 for fire protection and suppression in the lands thus classified within the respective counties, there shall be budgeted sums to be allocated to those counties at least equal to the direct cost of fire protection which is determined pursuant to Section 4130 and which shall include the salaries and wages of suppression crews and lookouts and maintenance of firefighting facilities.

§ 4133

Amended by Stats. 1987, Ch. 194, Sec. 2. Effective July 23, 1987.

The department shall, with the approval of the Department of General Services, for periods not to exceed three years, enter into a contract with any county which enacts an ordinance as provided in Section 4129. The budgeted sums in Section 4132 are subject to annual review in the budget process.

§ 4134

Added by Stats. 1965, Ch. 1144.

Any such contract shall provide for payment to such county, as compensation for the assumption of the duty, power, authority and responsibility for fire protection and suppression as provided in Section 4129 of such sum as may be specifically allocated in the appropriation made by the Legislature for that purpose or, if no specific appropriation is made for it, the sum allocated for expenditure in such county pursuant to Sections 4131 and 4132.

§ 4135

Added by Stats. 1965, Ch. 1144.

Sections 4129 to 4135, inclusive, do not deprive the department of the power and duty to require that the money paid by the department under the contract to a county shall be expended by the county for fire prevention and suppression in that area the protection of which is assumed by the county pursuant to Section 4129.

§ 4136

Amended by Stats. 2021, Ch. 133, Sec. 51. (SB 272) Effective July 23, 2021.

(a)A transferor of real property that is located within a state responsibility area determined by the board, pursuant to Section 4125, shall disclose to a prospective transferee the fact that the property is located within a wildland area that may contain substantial forest fire risks and hazards and is subject to the requirements of Section 4291.
(b)Except for property located within a county that has assumed responsibility for prevention and suppression of all fires pursuant to Section 4129, the transferor shall also disclose to a prospective transferee that it is not the state’s responsibility to provide fire protection services to a

building or structure located within the wildlands unless the department has entered into a cooperative agreement with a local agency for those purposes pursuant to Section 4142.

(c)Disclosure is required pursuant to this section only when one of the following conditions is met:
(1)The transferor, or the transferor’s agent, has actual knowledge that the property is within a wildland fire zone.
(2)A map that includes the property has been provided to the city or county pursuant to Section 4125, and a notice has been posted at the offices of the county recorder, county assessor, and county planning agency that identifies the location of the map and any information regarding changes to the map received by the county.
(d)In all transactions that are subject to Section 1103 of the Civil Code, the disclosures required by this section shall be provided by either of the following means:
(1)The Local Option Real Estate Disclosure Statement as provided in Section 1102.6a of the Civil Code.
(2)The Natural Hazard Disclosure Statement as provided in Section 1103.2 of the Civil Code.
(e)If the map or accompanying information is not of sufficient accuracy or scale that a reasonable person can determine if the subject real property is included in a wildland fire zone, the agent shall mark “Yes” on the Natural Hazard Disclosure Statement. The agent may mark “No” on the Natural Hazard

Disclosure Statement if the agent attaches a report prepared pursuant to subdivision (c) of Section 1103.4 of the Civil Code that verifies the property is not in the hazard zone. This subdivision does not limit or abridge any existing duty of the transferor or the transferor’s agents to exercise reasonable care in making a determination under this subdivision.

(f)For purposes of this section, Section 1103.13 of the Civil Code applies.
(g)The specification of items for disclosure in this section does not limit or abridge any obligation for disclosure created by any other law or that may exist in order to avoid fraud, misrepresentation, or deceit in the transfer transaction.
§ 4137

Amended by Stats. 2024, Ch. 72, Sec. 35. (SB 156) Effective July 2, 2024.

(a)For purposes of this section, the following terms apply:
(1)“Activities” means the specific actions performed to support a treatment, including, but not limited to, mechanical fuel reduction, hand fuel reduction, prescribed fire, or any other appropriate activities.
(2)“Fire

prevention efforts” include, but are not limited to, all of the following:

(A)Fire prevention education.
(B)Hazardous fuel reduction and vegetation management treatments and activities.
(C)Fire investigation.
(D)Civil cost recovery.
(E)Forest and fire law enforcement.
(F)Fire prevention engineering.
(G)Prefire planning.
(H)Risk analysis.
(I)Volunteer programs and partnerships.
(3)“Participating in wildfire resilience activities” means dedicating an average of at least 15 percent of working hours, but less than 75 percent of working hours, to wildfire resilience-related activities.
(4)“Primarily focused on

wildfire resilience activities” means dedicating an average of at least 75 percent of working hours to wildfire resilience-related activities.

(5)“Treatment” means actions conducted on the ground to meet a management objective, including, but not limited to, installation and maintenance of fuel breaks, fuels reduction, roadside fuels reduction, forest thinning, prescribed fire, reforestation, timber harvesting, fuel treatments in the wildland-urban interface, dead fuel removal, and all other treatments that reasonably could be considered fuels reduction or vegetation management.
(6)“Unique” means nonduplicated for the reporting year and, where multiple years are reported, across all of the years reported.
(7)“Wildfire resilience activities” include, but are not limited to, defensible space inspections and the

activities identified in subparagraphs (A) and (B) of paragraph (2).

(b)It is the intent of the Legislature that the year-round staffing and the

shift to a 66-hour workweek that have been provided to the department pursuant to memorandums of understanding with the state will result in significant increases in the department’s current level of fire prevention and wildfire resilience activities. It is also the intent of the Legislature that the budgetary augmentations for year-round staffing not reduce the reimbursements that the department receives from contracts with local governments for the department to provide local fire protection and emergency services pursuant to Section 4144, commonly referred to as “Amador agreements.”

(c)On or before

March 1 of each year, the department shall provide a report to the Senate Committee on Budget and Fiscal Review, the Assembly Committee on Budget, the Senate Committee on Natural Resources and Water, the Assembly Committee on Natural Resources, and the Legislative Analyst’s Office, in accordance with Section 9795 of the Government Code, detailing the department’s fire prevention efforts, including the increased activities described in subdivision (b). The report shall

display the fire prevention efforts of the previous fiscal year, as well as the information from

each of the prior two reporting years for purposes of a comparison of data. The report shall include, but not be limited to, by department administrative unit and statewide total, all of the following:

(1)Fire prevention efforts performed by the department on lands designated as state responsibility

areas.

The fire prevention efforts included in the report pursuant to this paragraph shall include, but not be limited to, all of the following:

(A)The number of hours department personnel spent primarily focused on wildfire resilience activities, by activity, the number of hours department personnel spent participating in wildfire resilience activities, by activity, and the number of hours spent on emergency incident response, by type.
(B)The number of

department personnel by classification that are (i) primarily focused on wildfire resilience activities and (ii) participating in wildfire resilience activities.

(C)The number of citations issued for noncompliance with Section 4291.
(D)The number of unique parcels inspected by department personnel for

compliance with defensible space requirements.

(E)The number of unique parcels that are eligible to be inspected by department personnel for compliance with defensible space requirements.
(F)The total number of defensible space inspections conducted by department personnel.
(G)(i) The number of geographical acres treated by department personnel to improve wildfire resilience that are not defensible space inspections. No treated acre shall be counted more than one time per report period.

(ii) The number of geographical acres treated by department personnel, by treatment type, to improve wildfire resilience that are not

defensible space inspections.

(H)The total number of acres treated by department personnel, by activity, to improve wildfire resilience.
(I)The funding sources and estimated amounts for the fire prevention efforts described in this

subdivision,

itemized by the activity categories described in subparagraphs (A) to (H), inclusive.

(J)Any other data or qualitative information deemed necessary by the department in order to provide the Legislature with a clear and accurate accounting of fire prevention efforts,

particularly with regard to variations from one year to the next. The department may include recommendations for updating the reporting requirements in this section to reflect changes in science and best practices related to the tracking and monitoring of fire prevention efforts.

(2)Fire prevention efforts performed by counties, pursuant to

Sections 4129 and 4132, that shall include, but not be limited to, all of the following:

(A)The number of hours of fire prevention education performed.
(B)The number of defensible space inspections conducted by county.
(C)The number of citations issued for noncompliance with Section 4291.
(D)The number of acres treated by mechanical fuel reduction.
(E)The number of acres treated by prescribed burns.
(F)Any other data or qualitative information deemed necessary by the department in order to provide the Legislature

with a clear and accurate accounting of fire prevention efforts, particularly with regard to variations from one year to the next.

(3)Projected fire prevention

efforts for the following fiscal year.

(4)Information on each of the “Amador contracts” described in subdivision (b), including an annual update on the number of those contracts and reimbursements received from the contracts that are in effect.
(d)Wildfire resilience activities that are not conducted by department personnel shall not be included in the data required to be reported in paragraph (1) of subdivision (c). Defensible space inspections shall not be included in the data reported in subparagraphs (G) and (H) of paragraph (1) of subdivision (c). The department shall define the scope of each treatment type that data is reported on in subparagraph (G) of paragraph (1) of subdivision (c) and each activity that data is reported on in subparagraph (H)

of paragraph (1) of subdivision (c).

(e)The report required by this section shall also include estimates of the portion of the amounts identified in subdivision (c) that result from the shift to a 66-hour workweek at the department, as well as a description of the methodology used to prepare these estimates.
(f)The data reported pursuant to subparagraphs (C) to (H), inclusive, of paragraph (1) of subdivision (c), and subparagraphs (B) to (E), inclusive, of paragraph (2) of subdivision (c), shall be displayed geographically and shall be available on the Wildfire and Forest Resilience Task Force’s internet website.
(g)Information contained in the report required by this section may be incorporated by reference, as applicable, to comply with annual legislative reporting required pursuant to Section 4771 of this code

and Section 12805.9 of the Government Code.

(h)The department shall post on its internet website on or before December 31, 2023, and annually thereafter, all of the following information regarding hazardous fuel reduction and vegetation management projects funded or conducted by the department, including, but not limited to, projects funded under the department’s Forest Health Program, California Forest Improvement Program, and Wildfire Prevention Grants Program, as well as funding for CAL FIRE unit wildfire prevention projects and prescribed fire and

hand crews, for the preceding fiscal year, beginning with funding included in the 2022–23 fiscal year:

(1)What permitting mechanism was used for each project.
(2)How the collaboration with the Department of Fish and Wildlife and the State Water Resources Control Board, as required by Section 4123, was achieved for both agencies, including whether the agency reviewed the project grant proposal or project description or permit.
(3)A description of any maintenance plan or other mechanism, if available, that is in place to support maintenance of vegetation improvements over time.
(4)A description of any mitigation required for each project, and whether the mitigation has been completed.
(i)On or before December 31, 2022, the department shall develop a standardized protocol for monitoring implementation and evaluating the positive and negative ecological and fire behavior impacts from vegetation management projects undertaken by the state, consistent with the requirements of Chapter 387 of the Statutes of 2021.
(j)The department shall provide links to all documents relevant to subdivisions
(h)and
(i)on its internet website.
(k)The reporting and monitoring requirements in subdivisions (h) and (i) shall be expanded to other state agencies that undertake or fund hazardous fuel reduction and vegetation management projects by December 31,

2024, including, but not limited to, projects funded or conducted by state conservancies, the Department of Fish and Wildlife, or the Department of Parks and Recreation.