ENCORE EPISODE! Rebuild:LA Episode 027 - The Hard Truth About Zone Zero with Dr. Travis Longcore

On the first of September, the new Rebuild:LA will premiere. We’re entering into the scary world of video and will be bringing you the next crop of leaders, visionaries, and doers who are helping to Rebuild LA.

Until then, we’re queuing up our most popular episodes and updating them where we can. So welcome to our first encore episode. The Hard Truth About Zone Zero first aired on May 30, 2025. The guest was Dr. Travis Longcore, an Adjunct Professor at UCLA and the co-chair of the Environmental Science and Engineering Program at the UCLA Institute of the Environment and Sustainability. He serves on the Los Angeles County Environmental Review Board and is a vocal critic of Zone Zero. In 2020, California passed Assembly Bill 3074, which established Zone Zero - an ember-resistant zone within five feet of homes in High and Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zones. And since that Bill passed, Californians have been arguing about how to implement it. State Fire Officials say it’s necessary to help fight the state’s increasing wildfire risk. Dr. Longcore and thousands of others say Zone Zero is impossible to implement or regulate, and won’t do much to prevent wildfire.

Now we go back in time to May 30, 2025, and the fight over Zone Zero.

New Resources:

• California Board of Forestry & Fire Protection Draft Rules
• Is My Home in a High Fire Hazard Severity Zone?
• MySafe:LA's Take on Zone Zero