Tustin, CA Fire Regulations: Brush Clearance (2026)

Tustin City Code § 8104 amends the 2025 California Fire Code by adding Section 325, which authorizes the fire code official, OCFA, to require clearance of flammable vegetation and other combustible growth within 10 feet (3,048 mm) on each side of any portion of a highway or private street that is improved, designed or ordinarily used for vehicular traffic. The 10-foot measurement runs from the flow-line of the roadway or from the end of its improved edge, giving OCFA a fixed, bright-line buffer to work from rather than a discretionary standard.

The rule exists to keep roadside brush from carrying fire toward or away from travel routes used by fire apparatus and evacuating residents, which is why the same amendment package (Sections 324 through 327) also covers fuel modification for new construction, unusual-circumstance suspensions of the clearance requirement, and spark-arrester rules for equipment operated near hazardous fire areas. A limited exception spares single specimen trees, ornamental shrubbery, and cultivated ground covers such as green grass, ivy or succulents used as ground cover, provided they do not form a means of readily transmitting fire; a homeowner cannot use that exception to justify a dense, untrimmed hedge or dry grass that would carry flame along the roadway.

The fire code official can also suspend enforcement under Section 326 where difficult terrain, erosion risk, protected or rare plant species, heritage tree stands, or other unusual circumstances make strict clearance impractical, substituting reasonable alternative measures instead.