Temecula, CA Environmental Rules: Defensible Space (2026)

16 of the Temecula Municipal Code requires every owner or person in control of real property, sidewalks, and privately maintained roads to abate hazardous vegetation and combustible material that constitutes a fire hazard, with abatement required throughout the calendar year. Improved parcels must maintain defensible space of one hundred feet from each side and from the front and rear of every structure, following the standards of Chapter 49 of the California Fire Code and applicable state regulations, with the more stringent rule controlling if they conflict.

Beyond the 100-foot clearance, owners must remove any tree portion within ten feet of a chimney or stovepipe outlet, cut and remove dead or dying tree limbs near or overhanging a building, keep roofs clear of leaves and needles, screen every chimney or stovepipe outlet with nonflammable mesh no larger than one-half inch, and keep combustible material at least ten feet from any building. Parcels of five acres or less under common ownership must be entirely disced or mowed to remove hazardous vegetation, while parcels over five acres must maintain a hundred-foot firebreak strip at their boundaries and break up the interior so no unabated section exceeds two and a half acres, with the Fire Chief able to require wider breaks.

The City Fire Chief issues a notice to remove and abate by mail, giving the owner thirty calendar days to clear the property themselves, request voluntary city abatement, or face mandatory city-ordered abatement with all costs billed to the owner. An owner may appeal within fifteen calendar days to the Hazard Reduction Office for a hearing before the Appeals Board.