Santa Barbara, CA Fire Regulations: Brush Clearance (2026)

The City of Santa Barbara enforces its own defensible space and vegetation-management rules through the City Fire Code (Municipal Code Chapter 8.04, Ordinance No. 5920), which mirrors and supplements California Public Resources Code Section 4291. Fire Code Section 4907.2 requires owners of property in or adjoining hazardous fire areas to 'maintain an effective firebreak by removing and clearing away flammable vegetation and combustible growth from areas within 30 to 150 feet' of structures, scaled by zone: Coastal Interior 30 to 50 feet, Coastal 50 to 70 feet, Foothill 100 feet, and Extreme Foothill 150 feet. (The City Fire Department's defensible-space program describes these distances by zone, including up to 150 feet in the Extreme Foothill Zone.) Single ornamental specimens and low ground cover may remain if they do not readily transmit fire, and grass beyond 30 feet under 18 inches tall may stay where needed for erosion control. Section 4907.7 allows additional clearance on steep slopes - 200 feet on 30 to 40 percent slopes and 250 to 300 feet on 41 to 60 percent slopes. Section 4907 also requires clearing trees within 10 feet of chimney outlets, keeping overhanging trees free of deadwood, maintaining roofs and gutters free of debris, and clearing flammable vegetation 10 feet on each side of roadways. The fire chief may serve a written order to abate a fire hazard within a set period of not less than ten days.