Leon County, FL Fire Regulations: Brush Clearance (2026)

A review of the Code of Laws of Leon County found no county ordinance requiring property owners to clear brush or maintain a fixed defensible-space buffer around structures, and Florida has no statewide statute equivalent to California's 100-foot defensible-space requirement. Instead, the Florida Forest Service (a division of FDACS) promotes brush reduction through its voluntary Firewise USA and defensible-space outreach, recommending that homeowners in the wildland-urban interface reduce flammable vegetation, leaf litter, and debris near the home to lower wildfire risk. Because much of unincorporated Leon County borders pine forest and wildland, these recommendations are practically important even though they are not mandatory ordinances. When brush clearing involves burning the cleared material, the work falls under Florida's open-burning rules: yard-waste piles up to 8 feet in diameter may be burned without authorization if state setbacks, hours, and attendance requirements are met, while larger piles, tree-cutting debris, and land-clearing debris require prior Florida Forest Service authorization. During a Leon County drought burn ban, brush-pile and land-clearing burns are prohibited unless specifically authorized by the Florida Forest Service. General overgrown-lot and nuisance-vegetation issues, if any, are handled through Leon County code enforcement rather than a dedicated brush-clearance fire ordinance.