Rancho Cucamonga, CA Environmental Rules: Defensible Space (2026)

010). 020 places an affirmative duty on every owner of private property within the city, including sidewalks, parkways, trails, and easements on that property, to abate all fire hazards, and declares an unabated hazard a public nuisance whose removal costs may be specially assessed against the parcel under state Health and Safety Code provisions. 040(B) sets the actual clearance standard: remove all vegetation within 50 feet of any structure, including structures on neighboring parcels; remove vegetation to 30 feet from property lines and adjacent roads; clear dead and dying plant material and noxious weeds; and keep grass mowed to no more than four inches.

040(C): on contiguous holdings of more than ten acres, the duty is satisfied by clearing and maintaining a 100-foot-wide strip at the property's boundaries and through the parcel so that no unenclosed area exceeds five acres, with vegetation there reduced to 50 percent of its natural density. 030 requires the fire chief to mail or personally serve a notice describing the hazard, the parcel, the abatement deadline, and appeal rights. 050 lets the fire chief bypass that notice period and order removal within 72 hours whenever an extreme fire hazard poses an immediate threat to public health and safety.