Hoboken, NJ Fire Regulations: Brush Clearance (2026)

Unlike Ocean or Burlington counties in the NJ Pinelands, Hudson County is approximately 99% developed urban land and has essentially no wildfire-prone forest acreage. The NJ Forest Fire Service (within NJDEP) maintains jurisdiction countywide but focuses enforcement on the Pinelands National Reserve. Local property maintenance codes in Jersey City (Title 15), Hoboken (Ch. 156), Bayonne, and other Hudson municipalities require property owners to keep lots free of overgrown vegetation, debris, and fire fuel loads primarily as a blight and rodent control measure rather than for wildfire defensibility. Vacant lot maintenance is actively enforced, particularly in Jersey City's redevelopment zones. Liberty State Park (the largest green space in the county at 1,200 acres) is managed directly by NJ DEP State Park Service with its own vegetation program. Hudson County parks (county-managed) like Lincoln Park and West Hudson Park operate under county Public Works. Property maintenance inspectors handle most vegetation complaints.