Stanislaus County, CA Environmental Rules: Defensible Space (2026)

200, 'Fire breaks around structures,' is Stanislaus County's defensible-space ordinance for the unincorporated area. It reaches any person owning, leasing, controlling, operating or maintaining a cabin, house, hotel, apiary, incinerator or other building or structure that sits on or adjoins mountainous, forest or brush-covered land, or land covered with flammable growth. That person, and separately, any person who owns, leases or controls adjacent land, must maintain an effective fire break by removing and clearing away flammable vegetation, growth or other combustible material for a distance of not less than 30 feet on each side of the structure.

070, this rule is tied to the structure itself rather than a property-line boundary, so the 30-foot clearance radiates outward from the cabin, house or other building regardless of exactly where the parcel line falls. The obligation is shared: both the person controlling the structure and any adjoining landowner whose land falls within that 30-foot zone bear the clearing duty, which matters where a structure sits close to a neighboring parcel in brush or forest terrain. 260 to confirm the clearance is maintained. The rule applies only in the unincorporated area outside the county's nine cities, each of which enforces its own defensible-space or vegetation-management requirements.