Ventura, CA Fire Regulations: Brush Clearance (2026)

165 by Ordinance No. 2025-012, sets the brush-clearance duty separately from the Zone 1 and Zone 2 defensible-space vegetation rules. Section J104 requires that any parcel the fire code official has declared a public nuisance be cleared entirely of combustible material, a term the code defines to include seasonal and recurrent weeds, stubble, brush, dry leaves, tumbleweeds, rubbish, litter or flammable materials of any kind. Where full clearance is impractical because of the hazards clearing itself would create, Section J105 instead requires any person owning, leasing, controlling, operating or maintaining a building in, upon or adjoining a hazardous fire area, and any person controlling adjacent land, to maintain an effective firebreak by removing and clearing away all combustible material for a distance of not less than 100 feet from all portions of the building.

The only carve-out covers single specimens of protected tree species or ornamental shrubbery used as ground cover, so long as they cannot rapidly carry fire from native growth to a structure. 50 of the municipal code and criminal penalties under California Health and Safety Code Section 13871. 10 of the San Buenaventura Municipal Code governing how the nuisance is ultimately abated.