Troutdale, OR Fire Regulations: Brush Clearance (2026)

Troutdale is identified in Multnomah County's Natural Hazards Mitigation Plan (Gresham Fire / RFPD 10 chapter) as being substantially within the Wildland-Urban Interface, driven by proximity to the Sandy River corridor, the Columbia River Gorge, and surrounding rural forested areas. Despite this, Oregon law does not impose statewide numeric defensible-space distances on individual urban homeowners the way California Public Resources Code 4291 does. The applicable Troutdale rules are: (1) the Oregon Fire Code as adopted by TMC Chapter 15.12 (updated by Ordinance 890 in 2024), which under OFC Section 304 authorizes the fire code official to require removal of combustible vegetation, weeds, and rubbish that create a fire hazard; and (2) TMC Title 8 (Health and Safety), Chapter 8.28 (Nuisances), which generally classifies overgrown vegetation, accumulated brush, and similar conditions that endanger neighboring property as abatable public nuisances, with abatement procedures detailed in Section 8.28.090. Enforcement on the fire side is handled by Gresham Fire's Fire Marshal (which serves Troutdale by contract); enforcement on the nuisance side is handled by Troutdale code-compliance staff. Property owners adjacent to the Sandy River riparian zone or to wooded city parkland should keep grass mowed and remove dead vegetation, especially during the summer fire-danger season, even though no specific foot-distance is codified in TMC.