Del Norte County, CA Fire Regulations: Brush Clearance (2026)

California Public Resources Code Section 4291 requires any person who owns, leases, controls, operates, or maintains a building or structure in a State Responsibility Area (SRA) — or in a Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone in a Local Responsibility Area — to maintain defensible space of 100 feet from each side and from the front and rear of the structure (but not beyond the property line). CAL FIRE organizes this into zones: an ember-resistant Zone 0 (0-5 feet) kept clear of combustible material; Zone 1 (5-30 feet) kept 'lean, clean, and green' with dead vegetation removed and plants spaced; and Zone 2 (roughly 30-100 feet) with grasses mowed, ladder fuels removed, and trees spaced. PRC 4291 also requires removing tree limbs within 10 feet of a chimney or stovepipe, clearing dead and dying wood overhanging the structure, and keeping the roof free of leaves and needles. While the wet redwood coast around Crescent City is lower-risk, the inland Smith River canyon, Gasquet, Hiouchi, and Siskiyou foothills are genuine wildfire country — the 2023 Smith River Complex burned about 95,000 acres. The Del Norte Fire Safe Council runs defensible-space and home-hardening programs to help residents comply. Local fire districts may impose additional weed-abatement standards.