Redlands, CA Fire Regulations: Brush Clearance (2026)

1, "Vegetation Maintenance," to the city's 2025 California Wildland-Urban Interface Code (Ordinance 2998). It applies to anyone owning, leasing, controlling, operating, or maintaining a building or structure in or adjoining a hazardous fire area, and to anyone owning or controlling adjacent land. The core duty is to maintain an effective fuel modification zone at all times by removing, clearing, or modifying combustible vegetation and other flammable material within 100 feet of the building or structure; the zone may be replanted only with fire code official-approved irrigated fire-resistant plants or non-irrigated drought-tolerant fire-resistant material, and any species on the fire department's wildland-urban interface high-fire-severity undesirable-plant list needs specific fire code official approval and is subject to periodic inspection, which can carry a fee.

Three exceptions narrow the 100-foot duty: single specimen trees or ornamental groundcover that will not rapidly transmit fire; grass and vegetation more than 30 feet from a structure and under 18 inches tall, where needed for erosion control; and, with fire code official approval, a reduced zone width for fire-resistive construction, though the zone can never shrink below 30 feet. The section separately requires removing tree portions within 10 feet of a chimney outlet, keeping trees near buildings free of deadwood, and keeping roofs free of leaves, needles, or other dead vegetative growth.

If an owner fails to correct a violation, the fire code official can order the work done and record the cost as a lien against the property.