Lake County, CA Fire Regulations: Brush Clearance (2026)

Unincorporated Lake County enforces brush clearance through its Hazardous Vegetation Abatement Ordinance, adopted as Ordinance No. 3082 (effective March 26, 2019) and codified in Lake County Code Chapter 13, Article VIII, Sections 13-57 through 13-66. On improved parcels, the ordinance requires 'maintenance of a thirty-foot (30-foot) defensible space around all buildings/structures' (Sec. 13-60.2.1.a), with an additional 10-foot clearance along frontage roads. Defensible space may extend 'outward to one hundred (100) feet from all buildings and surrounding, neighboring structures... depending on the property slope, fuel load and/or fuel type' (Sec. 13-60.2.2). On unimproved parcels, owners must remove flammable vegetation within 30 feet of neighboring structures and roadways and trim grass to under six inches. The ordinance defers to California Public Resources Code section 4291 where applicable: 'that state law shall control' on improved parcels (Sec. 13-60.2.1.a). PRC 4291 is the statewide defensible-space law requiring 100 feet of clearance around structures in State Responsibility Areas. After receiving a notice and order, property owners must abate the hazard 'within thirty (30) business days' (Sec. 13-62.1.2), with extensions possible for large or steep terrain. The County Fire Official enforces the ordinance.