Property owners in unincorporated Tuolumne County must maintain 100 feet of defensible space around all structures under California Public Resources Code 4291 and Tuolumne County Ordinance Code Chapter 8.14 (Hazardous Vegetation Management). Most of the county is a State Responsibility Area protected by CAL FIRE Tuolumne-Calaveras Unit (TCU), and AB 3074 added a mandatory 0-5 foot ember-resistant Zone 0 to the framework.
Defensible space in Tuolumne County is governed by a layered framework. California Public Resources Code 4291 establishes the statewide baseline, requiring any person who owns, leases, controls, operates, or maintains a building or structure in a State Responsibility Area (SRA) or Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone to maintain defensible space of 100 feet from each side and from the front and rear of the structure (or to the property line, whichever is closer). The standard splits the 100 feet into three zones: Zone 0 (0-5 feet), the ember-resistant zone added by AB 3074 in 2020, where no combustible materials, mulch, or living vegetation should be present immediately adjacent to the structure; Zone 1 (5-30 feet), the lean, clean, and green zone, requiring removal of dead plants, grass, and weeds, clearance of dead leaves and pine needles from yards, roofs, and gutters, and tree branches kept 10 feet from chimneys; and Zone 2 (30-100 feet), the reduced fuel zone, where grass must be mowed to a maximum height of 4 inches and horizontal and vertical spacing must be maintained between grass, shrubs, and trees. Locally, Tuolumne County Ordinance Code Chapter 8.14 (Hazardous Vegetation Management) implements and reinforces these standards in the unincorporated areas. The chapter declares the uncontrolled growth or accumulation of hazardous vegetation a public nuisance and requires owners to maintain Reduced Fuel Zones by periodically removing needles, leaves, fallen limbs, and dead plants; mowing or grazing tall grass; pruning low tree limbs; thinning and spacing bushes; and using permitted burning, tilling, or legal herbicide application. Inspections are typically conducted using CAL FIRE's LE-100 inspection form by CAL FIRE Tuolumne-Calaveras Unit personnel and county staff, particularly during peak fire season. Tuolumne County also requires defensible space verification as part of its short-term rental Fire and Life Safety Inspection program. Defensible space does not require clearing the property to bare soil; the goal is fuel modification so that wildfire is unlikely to ignite the structure.
Under PRC 4291, CAL FIRE may issue a Notice of Defensible Space Inspection (LE-100A) listing deficiencies and a deadline for correction; failure to comply allows CAL FIRE or the State Fire Marshal to abate the hazard and place a lien on the property for the cost of the work. Under Tuolumne County Chapter 8.14, hazardous vegetation is declared a public nuisance subject to abatement; the County may issue notices to abate, and if the owner fails to act within the time specified, the County may perform the work and recover its costs as a special assessment or lien against the property. Continuing or repeat violations may be enforced through Code Compliance citations and administrative fines. At time of sale of property in a high or very high fire hazard severity zone, sellers must provide a defensible space disclosure under AB 38 (PRC 4291).
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