Foothill homeowners in Pasadena can learn how to harden their houses against wildfire at a free workshop Saturday, Oct. 3.

The West Pasadena Residents' Association is hosting the one-hour session from 10 to 11 a.m. in the conference room of the San Rafael Branch Library at 1240 Nithsdale Road, Pasadena Now reported. The session is titled "Easy steps to harden your home to protect it from wildfire." Space is limited. Residents can reserve a spot by texting (626) 825-7585.

The workshop comes as California's first-ever "Zone 0" defensible-space rules await final state approval. The California Board of Forestry and Fire Protection unanimously approved the regulations on Aug. 19, according to PublicCEO. The board submitted them to the Office of Administrative Law (OAL) on Aug. 28, and a five-day public comment period closed Sept. 2. The rules still need OAL's sign-off and filing with the Secretary of State before they take effect.

The Board of Forestry's website says the board and its staff are still working with OAL on a final review of the regulations. No target date has been announced.

Once effective, the Zone 0 rules will require homeowners to keep the first five feet around a structure free of combustible materials like firewood, dead leaves, mulch and wood chips. A vegetation-free buffer must extend at least one foot from the house or to the edge of the eaves.

Plants are not allowed within two feet of windows, doors and vents. Well-maintained flowers, lawns and potted plants in movable noncombustible containers are permitted outside those buffers. Trees may stay if trimmed back from chimneys, roofs and eaves.

Owners of existing homes would have three years to clear combustible materials and up to five years to create the buffer zone and replace combustible gates. The board has said education and outreach will be the initial focus over a five-year period.

The rules apply in Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zones, which include parts of Pasadena. A 2025 update to the state's fire hazard map raised the number of Pasadena properties in those zones to 4,610, according to a Pasadena Fire Department report. The zones sit largely in the Arroyo Seco area, west and north of the 210 Freeway and in upper Hastings Ranch.

In April, the Pasadena City Council approved a letter to the Board of Forestry backing the least restrictive of the state's proposed standards for vegetation and trees.

The WPRA has pushed home-hardening education since the Eaton Fire, which destroyed nearly 10,000 structures on 14,000 acres in Altadena and parts of Pasadena and killed 18 people. At the association's July 2025 annual meeting, O.P. Almaraz, CEO of Allied Restoration Services, told attendees that "suppression alone isn't enough; prevention is key, and it starts at home."

Saturday's workshop is the latest in that effort.