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Zone Zero in Silverado Canyon: where the Bond Fire began

What the ember-resistant zone rules mean for this unincorporated canyon community, under its actual designation and its actual fire authority.

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Quick answer: Silverado Canyon carries a Very High designation, with Orange County Fire Authority (OCFA) as the local fire authority. Zone Zero requires an ember-resistant zone in the first 0 to 5 feet around structures in the mapped Very High areas, with the combustible-fence restriction taking effect immediately upon adoption of the final regulations.

The local snapshot

Where Silverado Canyon stands

Silverado Canyon is the deepest of the Santa Ana Mountain communities, a single road in and out along Silverado Creek. Homes here sit directly against chaparral in a Local Responsibility Area mapped Very High, which is exactly the setting the ember-resistant zone rules were written for. In Silverado, Zone 0 (the official term is "Zone 0") isn't a distant policy question. It's the five feet between the wall and the brush.

Very High
FHSZ tier, Local Responsibility Area
2020
Bond Fire ignited on Bond Way
31
structures destroyed in the Bond Fire
2 fires
through this canyon since 2007

Fire record

The fire that started here

The Bond Fire ignited on Bond Way in Silverado on December 2, 2020, from a house fire that escaped into the canyon. It burned 6,686 acres, destroyed 31 structures, and pushed roughly 25,000 people out of the canyons. Thirteen years earlier, the 2007 Santiago Fire (28,445 acres, arson) burned through this same corridor. Two fires, one canyon, thirteen years apart: that repetition is why Silverado carries the county's most serious hazard designation and why the first five feet around every structure here matters most.

Who enforces it

Orange County Fire Authority (OCFA)

OCFA is the Authority Having Jurisdiction here. The state Zone 0 framework is the floor; OCFA's adopted schedule and inspection program set the local specifics. Deadlines pages carry the state defaults; your jurisdiction sets the specifics, and this page names yours. For the requirements themselves, start with the regulations guide, fences and gates, and landscaping.

Questions

Quick answers

Is Silverado Canyon in a Very High fire hazard zone?

Yes. Silverado is an unincorporated community in OCFA's Local Responsibility Area mapped Very High, which triggers Zone Zero ember-resistant zone requirements.

What did the Bond Fire mean for Silverado specifically?

It started here. A house fire on Bond Way escaped into the canyon in December 2020, burned 6,686 acres, destroyed 31 structures, and forced mass evacuations. Ember ignition at structures is the failure mode Zone 0 targets.

Who inspects defensible space in Silverado Canyon?

OCFA. As unincorporated county territory, Silverado falls directly under OCFA's hazard-reduction and defensible-space programs.

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