In an urgency ordinance, the South Lake Tahoe City Council unanimously approved California's building material regulations and defensible space requirements for areas bordering wildlands.

Eighty percent of South Lake Tahoe already faced the same regulations under the state laws due to their rating under draft California Fire Hazard Severity Maps, according to Ray Zachau, fire marshal for South Lake Tahoe.

Decreasing the possibility of catastrophic wildfire throughout the remaining 20 percent of the city was the motivation behind adding the California codes into city ordinances.

"The basis for adoption as an urgency measure is the fact that the City of South Lake Tahoe is experiencing the driest conditions and highest fire hazard ratings in its history," according to the ordinance. "These conditions were experienced during the Angora fire and continue to exist, causing the City to remain under a declaration of emergency."

Among its provisions, California's defensible space law requires up to 100 feet of firebreak around a home, the removal of any portion of a tree within 10 feet of the outlet of a chimney or stove pipe, a roof free of dead vegetation, and the removal of any part of a dead or dying tree overhanging a building.

Property owners who do not maintain defensible space practices after notification by the fire chief could be charged with a misdemeanor under the ordinance.

Although the city's ordinance mirroring existing state laws on building materials took effect immediately, they also include an update of California's Wildland-Urban Interface codes taking effect in the first week of January, Zachau said.

New requirements for windows, deck, eaves and siding on new construction are included as part of the codes taking effect in January.