Alameda, CA Fire Regulations: Brush Clearance (2026)

California's statewide defensible-space law, Public Resources Code Section 4291, requires 100 feet of vegetation clearance around structures in State Responsibility Areas and very high fire hazard severity zones. The City of Alameda is a low-lying, flat, urban island in San Francisco Bay with no wildland fuels, slopes, or wildland-urban interface, so it is not designated as a CAL FIRE Fire Hazard Severity Zone and is not a State Responsibility Area. As a result, the PRC 4291 100-foot defensible-space mandate does not apply to Alameda properties. (By contrast, hill communities elsewhere in Alameda County, such as the Oakland and Berkeley hills, do carry high and very high fire hazard severity zone designations.) That said, the California Fire Code adopted by the City still authorizes the Fire Department to abate fire hazards, and overgrown weeds, dead vegetation, and accumulated combustible debris can be declared a public nuisance and ordered abated. So while Alameda residents are not subject to wildfire defensible-space clearance distances, they remain responsible for keeping their property free of hazardous vegetation and combustible accumulation under general fire-prevention and nuisance authority.