Fishers, IN Fire Regulations: Brush Clearance (2026)

Fishers, a suburban community in Hamilton County near Indianapolis, is not in a wildfire-prone region and has no defensible-space brush-clearance code of the kind found in western states. The closest equivalent is the city's high grass and weeds ordinance (Ordinance 120511A, adopted 2012), enforced by the city's Permitting and Inspection (zoning code enforcement) division. The ordinance regulates grass, weeds, or other rank or useless vegetation that exceeds a height of eight inches as measured from the ground, as well as any vegetation that harbors insects or disease constituting a hazard to life, health, or property. The rule does not apply to wetlands, woods, nature preserves, undeveloped areas, stormwater best-management-practice areas, or agricultural crops such as hay and pasture. The city describes an enforcement process in which a notice of violation is issued to the current tenant or property owner, the owner has five days to correct the violation, and after seven days the department performs a site inspection. If the property is not brought into compliance, the city may abate the nuisance and place a continuous abatement notice on the property so future overgrowth can be addressed without repeating the full notice process. Clearing dead brush and tall vegetation also helps reduce general fire hazard, though Fishers frames this as a property-maintenance and nuisance matter rather than wildfire mitigation.