San Benito County, CA Fire Regulations: Brush Clearance (2026)

San Benito County's dry oak-grassland hills carry genuine wildfire risk, and CAL FIRE's San Benito-Monterey Unit (BEU) protects the State Responsibility Area (SRA) that covers much of the unincorporated backcountry. The core legal standard is California Public Resources Code (PRC) section 4291: owners of property in an SRA, or in a Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone, must maintain 100 feet of defensible space around every building (or to the property line). CAL FIRE structures this as zones. Zone 0, the ember-resistant 0-to-5-foot band immediately around the structure (added by AB 3074 in 2020 and refined by SB 504 in 2024), should be kept free of combustible materials. Zone 1 runs from 5 to 30 feet and must be 'lean, clean, and green' - dead plants, leaves, needles, and debris removed. Zone 2 extends from 30 to 100 feet as a reduced-fuel zone, with annual grass mowed 'to a maximum height of four inches,' horizontal and vertical spacing between shrubs and trees, and tree limbs cleared at least six feet from the ground. CAL FIRE conducts defensible-space inspections in the SRA. In addition, the 2025 Local Responsibility Area Fire Hazard Severity Zone maps released by the Office of the State Fire Marshal map Moderate, High, and Very High zones within unincorporated San Benito County, which can trigger PRC 4291 and Government Code section 51182 defensible-space duties on top of CAL FIRE's SRA program.