PG&E's 2022 wildfire mitigation plan, explained for homeowners

Last updated 2026-07-25

What is PG&E's 2022 wildfire mitigation plan, exactly?

PG&E's Wildfire Mitigation Plan (WMP) for 2022 is a multi-year plan (2022 through 2026) that the utility files with the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) under Public Utilities Code Section 8386, which requires every electrical corporation in the state to submit a wildfire mitigation plan for commission review ^[1]. It's not a one-year document you can read and forget. PG&E updates it annually, but the core 2022 filing set the multi-year targets the company is still working through. The plan lays out what PG&E says it will do to reduce the chance its equipment starts a wildfire: where it will bury power lines, which circuits get covered conductor, how it prunes trees near lines, and when it will cut power during high wind and dry conditions (Public Safety Power Shutoffs, or PSPS). The CPUC's Wildfire Safety Division reviews and can approve, reject, or require changes to the plan before it takes effect ^[2]. For a homeowner, this matters in three ways. First, whether your area sits inside a High Fire-Threat District affects your PSPS frequency and your insurance underwriting. Second, PG&E's vegetation clearance requirements around its lines are separate from, and sometimes stricter than, the state's defensible space law around your house. Third, insurers and some Fair Plan underwriters look at utility mitigation progress as one data point when they price wildfire risk in a service territory, though it is far from the only factor. If you're trying to understand your own defensible space obligations rather than PG&E's grid work, that's a different rulebook entirely. See our breakdown of defensible space requirements for the homeowner side of this.

What does PG&E's 2022-2026 plan actually promise to do?

The headline number PG&E has repeated across its 2022 and later WMP filings is a targeted 61% reduction in wildfire risk from its equipment by the end of 2022, measured against a 2019 baseline, driven mainly by undergrounding and covered conductor work ^[3]. That figure comes from PG&E's own risk modeling, not an independent third party, so treat it as a company estimate rather than a verified outcome. The biggest single commitment is undergrounding. PG&E's plan calls for burying about 10,000 miles of distribution power lines in high fire-threat areas over the multi-year plan period, a scale of underground construction the company has described as the largest of its kind in the country ^[4]. Undergrounding is expensive (PG&E's own cost estimates have run well over $3 million per mile in some filings) which is part of why this work stretches across years, not months, and why customer rates have risen alongside it. Other major elements of the plan: - Covered conductor (insulated wire) installation on remaining overhead lines in high-risk zones, which is cheaper than undergrounding but still meaningfully reduces ignition risk from vegetation contact.

• Enhanced vegetation management, including expanded clearance around lines beyond the statutory minimums in some circumstances.
• Continued and, PG&E says, more targeted use of PSPS, meant to shrink both the size and duration of outages compared to earlier shutoff seasons.
• Weather station and camera network expansion for faster ignition detection and better shutoff decision-making. None of this replaces the work you do on your own property. A buried line near your street doesn't change the fact that the fence, mulch bed, and eaves within five feet of your house are still the highest-risk zone for ember ignition, which is the subject of California's Zone 0 rule discussed below.

When does the California defensible space law go into effect?

California's core defensible space law is not new; Public Resources Code Section 4291 has required 100 feet of defensible space clearance around structures in State Responsibility Areas since it was amended in 2005, and it already applies today ^[5]. What's new and still pending is the "ember-resistant zone" rule, often called Zone 0, covering the 0-5 foot area immediately around a home. Assembly Bill 3074 (2020) directed the Board of Forestry and Fire Protection to develop regulations for that 0-5 foot zone, requiring it to be kept ember-resistant, meaning no combustible mulch, no wood fencing attached to the house, and no stored items against the walls ^[5]. As of this writing, the Board of Forestry has been developing and revising the draft Zone 0 regulation text, and the state has repeatedly cited a target implementation timeline that lands in 2025 to 2026, though the exact effective date has moved as the rulemaking process (which requires public comment periods) has continued. Check the Board of Forestry and Fire Protection's regulation page for the current status before assuming a specific date. That's the honest answer to "what fire-safe home rules take effect in 2026": the state's own target for finalizing Zone 0 has clustered around 2025-2026, but rulemaking timelines slip, and the effective date in your specific county could also depend on whether your local fire district adopts its own ordinance sooner. [Fill in: check your county fire marshal or CAL FIRE unit page for the current Zone 0 adoption status in your jurisdiction.] Until Zone 0 is finalized statewide, treat the 0-5 foot rule as a best practice you should adopt now, not a future requirement you can ignore. Insurers underwriting wildfire risk are already asking about this zone in some markets, well ahead of the regulation's formal effective date.

Why won't people follow the defensible space law in California?

Compliance with Section 4291 is uneven, and the reasons aren't mysterious: cost, labor, confusion about the rule, and simple procrastination all play a part. CAL FIRE's own inspection data over multiple years has repeatedly found initial non-compliance rates in the range of 30-45% on properties inspected in State Responsibility Areas, with many property owners fixing violations only after a follow-up notice. Cost is the biggest practical barrier. Clearing 100 feet of defensible space on a wooded acre lot, removing ladder fuels, limbing up trees, and hauling debris can run from a few hundred dollars for a small lot cleared by the homeowner to several thousand dollars for a contractor-cleared property with heavy vegetation. For older or lower-income homeowners, especially those on fixed incomes in rural counties, that expense competes with everything else in the budget. Other common reasons compliance lags: - Homeowners genuinely don't know the rule applies to them, especially new buyers or renters who never got the CAL FIRE notice.

• The 100-foot zone crosses property lines, and neighbors don't coordinate, so one owner clears while the adjacent lot stays overgrown.
• Aesthetic preference; many people like a wooded, private-feeling yard and see clearance as ugly or as removing privacy screening.
• Enforcement is inconsistent. CAL FIRE and local fire agencies inspect a portion of parcels each year, not every property annually, so some owners simply never get checked.
• Confusion between the general 100-foot brush clearance and specific zone requirements (0-5, 5-30, 30-100 feet) leads people to do partial work and assume they're compliant. None of this is a reason to skip the work. It's a reason insurers keep tightening standards: the gap between what the law requires and what actually gets done on the ground is exactly the risk carriers are pricing when they non-renew a policy.

How to prevent wildfires around your own home

You can't control lightning strikes or a spark from someone else's equipment, but you can control almost everything that determines whether your house catches once a fire is already burning nearby. Preventing wildfires as a homeowner really means two separate jobs: reducing the odds you cause an ignition, and reducing the odds your property carries a fire that starts elsewhere. On the ignition-prevention side: don't mow dry grass midday in fire season (mower blades striking rock is a real and common ignition source), keep vehicles off dry grass where a hot exhaust or catalytic converter can ignite fuel, maintain any generators and outdoor equipment so they don't throw sparks, and follow local burn-ban rules exactly, not approximately. On the property-hardening side, CAL FIRE's defensible space guidance breaks your yard into zones: Zone 0 (0-5 feet, ember-resistant, noncombustible), Zone 1 (5-30 feet, lean and clean, well-spaced plants), and Zone 2 (30-100 feet, reduced fuel and ladder fuel removal) ^[6]. Working these zones in order, starting closest to the house, gives you the best risk reduction per hour of labor, because embers landing near the structure are what ignite most homes in wildfire disasters, not direct flame contact from a distant fire front. For landscaping choices that fit inside these zones, see our guide to fire-safe landscaping next to the house.

How to prepare for a wildfire before one starts

Wildfire preparation splits into three buckets: documentation, home hardening, and an evacuation plan you've actually rehearsed, more than written down. Do all three before fire season, not during a red flag warning. Documentation means photos and video of your home's exterior, roof, vents, and yard, plus an inventory of belongings, done now while you have time and good light. This isn't about proving anything to a fire agency; it's about having your own record if you ever need to support an insurance claim or show an inspector what your property looked like before a mitigation project. Home hardening means addressing the specific weak points that let embers into a structure: unscreened vents, wood shake roofs, single-pane windows, and combustible material touching exterior walls. Ready.gov's wildfire preparedness guidance specifically recommends cleaning gutters and roofs of debris, installing 1/8-inch metal mesh screening over vents, and keeping a garden hose long enough to reach every part of the house ^[7]. Evacuation planning means knowing two routes out of your neighborhood (not one), having a go-bag packed before fire season starts, and signing up for your county's emergency alert system, since many counties don't auto-enroll landline numbers and cell numbers change. Practice the drive at least once. Traffic during an actual evacuation order looks nothing like a normal Tuesday. This is also where a pre-built kit saves time you won't have later. DefensibleHome's $99 Wildfire Insurance Survival Kit is built specifically for this documentation step: a guided walkthrough for photographing your home's hardening features and defensible space zones in the format insurers and adjusters actually want to see, so you're not improvising the night before an evacuation order.

How to prevent forest fires and avoid forest fires more broadly

Forest fire prevention at the individual level is mostly about not being the ignition source, since the overwhelming majority of wildfires nationally are human-caused, not lightning-caused. Ready.gov and the U.S. Forest Service both point to unattended campfires, debris burning, equipment sparks, and discarded cigarettes as the most common causes of human-started wildfires ^[8]. Practical prevention steps that actually move the needle: - Fully extinguish campfires: drown, stir, and drown again until cold to the touch, more than smoking-free.

• Never burn debris on windy days or during a burn ban, and check your county's current burn status before lighting anything.
• Keep spark arrestors on chainsaws, ATVs, and other small engines used near dry vegetation.
• Don't park or idle vehicles on dry grass.
• Tow chains dragging on pavement throw sparks; secure them.
• Report smoke or unattended fires immediately rather than assuming someone else already called it in. "Avoiding" forest fires as a phrase usually means avoiding being caught in one, which comes back to the preparation and evacuation planning covered above: know your zone's evacuation routes, monitor red flag warnings, and don't wait for a mandatory order if conditions are already worsening near you and local officials have issued a warning.

How can we prevent forest fires at a community level?

Individual habits matter, but community-level prevention adds a second layer: coordinated fuel reduction, shared evacuation planning, and consistent enforcement of defensible space rules across a neighborhood, since fire doesn't respect property lines. Firewise USA, the National Fire Protection Association's community recognition program, is the most established framework for this in the U.S., and it requires neighborhoods to complete a community wildfire risk assessment and an annual work day addressing shared fuel reduction to maintain recognition status . Communities in this program coordinate exactly the kind of cross-property clearance that individual compliance with Section 4291 often misses, since one owner's cleared yard doesn't help if the adjacent five lots are overgrown. Other community-level levers: local fire safe councils that organize chipper days and grant-funded clearance for lower-income residents, HOA rules that actually enforce defensible space rather than aesthetic landscaping preferences that work against it, and coordinated evacuation route planning so a single blocked road doesn't strand an entire subdivision. If your neighborhood is weighing a shared vegetation clearing contract, it's worth seeing how other states structure these agreements; our guide to defensible space clearing contracts in Washington State walks through what a well-written contract should specify, even if you're working with a different state agency.

Is Santa Barbara safe from fire?

No California coastal or foothill community is "safe" from fire in an absolute sense, and Santa Barbara County has a documented history that argues against complacency. The 2017 Thomas Fire burned into January 2018 and was followed within weeks by the Montecito debris flow, which killed 23 people in Santa Barbara County, a disaster made worse specifically because the fire had stripped hillside vegetation that normally holds soil in place . Much of Santa Barbara County, particularly the foothill communities along the Santa Ynez range and areas like Montecito, Mission Canyon, and the San Marcos Pass corridor, sits inside CAL FIRE-mapped Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zones, which carry the same Section 4291 defensible space obligations as any other State Responsibility Area property . You can check the exact zone designation for any specific address using CAL FIRE's Fire Hazard Severity Zone viewer. So the honest answer is: parts of Santa Barbara are lower-risk (dense urban flatland, away from wildland interface) and parts are high-risk (anything backing up to open hillside or canyon vegetation), and the difference between those two categories inside the same county can be a few blocks. Insurance non-renewal patterns have followed this same split; homes in the WUI (wildland-urban interface) foothill areas have seen more non-renewals and Fair Plan placements than flatland homes in the same zip codes.

How PG&E's plan connects to your insurance non-renewal

If you received a non-renewal letter, it's tempting to blame PG&E's slow undergrounding progress or your neighbor's overgrown lot, and both can be contributing factors, but insurers weigh dozens of inputs, not one utility's mitigation timeline. Catastrophe models used by carriers and by the California FAIR Plan factor in fire history, vegetation density, slope, home age and construction materials, defensible space status, and yes, utility infrastructure risk in your specific area. What you can actually influence is your own property's inputs to that model: documented defensible space clearance, an ember-resistant zone around the foundation, a Class A roof, and vent screening. Some insurers now ask for photo documentation of these items directly, and a few California carriers have started offering premium credits tied to programs like the IBHS Wildfire Prepared Home standard, though availability varies significantly by carrier and is not guaranteed in any specific market . We don't negotiate with insurers, file claims on your behalf, or promise any discount or reinstatement outcome, and you should treat any specific savings figure a contractor or vendor quotes you with real skepticism until you see it in writing from your actual carrier. What you can do is prepare thorough, dated documentation of your mitigation work and submit it yourself, through your agent, when you request a re-inspection or shop for new coverage. That paperwork is the whole product our $99 Wildfire Insurance Survival Kit is built around: a structured way to document defensible space zones, hardening upgrades, and photo evidence in the format carriers actually request, so you're not assembling it from scratch under a deadline.

What should you actually prioritize first, given all of this?

Zone 0 (0-5 ft)	Remove mulch/plants against house, gravel or hardscape buffer	$200-$2,000 DIY to contractor	Highest per dollar
Vent screening	1/8-inch metal mesh on all attic/foundation vents	$50-$500	High, cheap
Roof/gutter clearing	Remove debris, seasonal maintenance	$0 DIY to $300/visit	High, ongoing
Zone 1 (5-30 ft)	Prune, space plants, remove ladder fuels	$500-$5,000	Moderate-high
Zone 2 (30-100 ft)	Reduce fuel load, thin trees	$1,000-$10,000+	Moderate, scales with acreage
Documentation	Photos, dated records, inventory	Free-$99 (kit)	Doesn't reduce fire risk, protects claim/insurance position	A note on documentation: it doesn't make your house safer from fire. It makes you better positioned when you need to prove the work you already did, whether that's to a fire marshal after a complaint, an insurance underwriter during a re-inspection, or a claims adjuster after a loss. Skipping it is the most common mistake homeowners make after doing real hardening work.

Given limited time and money, work in this order: Zone 0 first (the 0-5 foot ring around your house), then vent screening and roof debris removal, then Zone 1 (5-30 feet) spacing and pruning, then documentation, then Zone 2 (30-100 feet) if you have the acreage. This ordering matches CAL FIRE's own risk hierarchy, where ember intrusion near the structure causes the majority of home losses in wildfire events, not direct flame contact from distant fire fronts ^[6]. Here's a rough comparison of where time and money go furthest, based on typical project scope rather than any single vendor's pricing: | Priority | Typical scope | Rough cost range | Risk impact |

Frequently asked questions

When does the California defensible space law go into effect?

The core 100-foot defensible space requirement under Public Resources Code Section 4291 already applies today in State Responsibility Areas and has since a 2005 amendment. The newer 0-5 foot ember-resistant "Zone 0" rule is still in rulemaking; the Board of Forestry has targeted 2025-2026 for finalizing it, but check the board's current regulation page since the timeline has shifted before.

Why won't people follow the defensible space law in California?

Cost, confusion about which zone rules apply, inconsistent enforcement (not every parcel is inspected annually), disputes across property lines, and aesthetic preference for wooded yards all contribute. CAL FIRE inspection data has repeatedly found initial non-compliance rates in the 30-45% range on inspected State Responsibility Area properties, with many owners fixing issues only after a follow-up notice.

What fire-safe home rules take effect in 2026?

California's Zone 0 ember-resistant zone regulation (the 0-5 foot area around structures, required under AB 3074) has a targeted implementation window in the 2025-2026 range, though the exact effective date depends on the Board of Forestry's rulemaking completion and could vary by local fire district adoption. Confirm current status directly with the Board of Forestry before assuming a firm date.

Is Santa Barbara safe from fire?

No, not uniformly. Foothill and wildland-urban interface areas of Santa Barbara County, including parts of Montecito and the Santa Ynez foothills, sit in CAL FIRE-mapped Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zones and carry real risk, as shown by the 2017 Thomas Fire and the deadly 2018 Montecito debris flow that followed it. Flatland urban areas away from wildland interface carry lower risk.

How to prevent wildfires as an individual homeowner?

Maintain defensible space in the zones around your home, keep mowing and equipment use to cooler parts of the day during fire season, don't park vehicles on dry grass, extinguish any outdoor fire completely, follow local burn bans exactly, and screen vents with 1/8-inch metal mesh to block ember intrusion, per CAL FIRE and Ready.gov guidance.

How to prepare for a wildfire if you live in a high-risk zone?

Document your home and belongings with photos now, harden the structure (vent screens, roof debris removal, ember-resistant zone near the foundation), pack a go-bag, know two evacuation routes, and enroll in your county's emergency alert system. Ready.gov's wildfire page recommends completing hardening steps well before fire season starts, not during a red flag warning.

How to prevent forest fires from human causes?

Fully extinguish campfires by drowning and stirring until cold, avoid debris burning on windy days or during burn bans, keep spark arrestors maintained on small engines, never park on dry grass, and secure dragging tow chains. The majority of wildfires nationally are human-caused, according to U.S. Forest Service and Ready.gov data, making these habits the most direct prevention lever available to individuals.

How can we prevent forest fires at the neighborhood level?

Coordinated fuel reduction across property lines matters more than any single yard, since fire doesn't stop at a fence. Programs like Firewise USA require an annual community work day and shared risk assessment to maintain recognition, addressing exactly the cross-property gaps that individual defensible space compliance often misses.

What is PG&E's 2022 wildfire mitigation plan's biggest commitment?

Undergrounding roughly 10,000 miles of distribution power lines in high fire-threat areas over the multi-year 2022-2026 plan period, alongside covered conductor installation and continued Public Safety Power Shutoffs. PG&E has said this targets a 61% reduction in wildfire risk from its equipment versus a 2019 baseline, based on the company's own modeling.

Does PG&E's mitigation plan affect my home insurance rate?

It can be one factor among many. Insurers and the California FAIR Plan weigh utility infrastructure risk alongside your property's fire history, defensible space status, roof material, and slope. Utility mitigation progress alone doesn't determine your premium or renewal, and no vendor can honestly promise a specific discount tied to it.

How to avoid forest fires when camping or working outdoors?

Check the current burn status and any red flag warning for the area before lighting anything, keep a shovel and water nearby for any fire you start, never leave a campfire unattended, and fully extinguish it (drown, stir, drown again) before leaving. Equipment with hot exhaust or spark risk should stay off dry grass entirely.

What's the difference between PG&E's Wildfire Mitigation Plan and my own defensible space requirements?

PG&E's plan governs the utility's own equipment: undergrounding, vegetation clearance around power lines, and PSPS shutoff protocols, filed under Public Utilities Code Section 8386. Your defensible space requirement, under Public Resources Code Section 4291, governs the vegetation and materials around your house and is entirely separate, though both aim at reducing ignition risk in the same fire-prone areas.

Sources

1. California Legislative Information, Public Utilities Code Section 8386: Electrical corporations must submit wildfire mitigation plans for CPUC review
2. California Legislative Information, Public Resources Code Section 4291: 100 feet of defensible space clearance required around structures in State Responsibility Areas
3. California Legislative Information, Assembly Bill 3074 (2020): AB 3074 directed the Board of Forestry to develop ember-resistant zone (Zone 0) regulations
4. California Board of Forestry and Fire Protection, Defensible Space regulations: Zone 0 ember-resistant zone regulation development status and timeline
5. CAL FIRE, Defensible Space Inspections program: CAL FIRE defensible space compliance inspection findings and non-compliance rates
6. National Fire Protection Association, Firewise USA program requirements: Firewise USA community recognition requires annual work day and community risk assessment
7. CAL FIRE, Fire Hazard Severity Zone Viewer: Santa Barbara County foothill areas mapped as Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zones
8. Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety, Wildfire Prepared Home standard: IBHS Wildfire Prepared Home standard used by some insurers for wildfire risk credits