West Jordan, UT Fire Regulations: Brush Clearance (2026)

Section 13-6D-4(H) of West Jordan's Hillside Development Overlay Zone, found in title 13, chapter 6, article D, addresses wildfire hazards through mandatory tree and vegetation removal. The standard applies wherever the fire chief or a designee determines that hillside terrain is highly susceptible to fire hazards; inside those areas, vegetation within thirty feet of a structure's perimeter must be selectively pruned, thinned and regularly maintained, both to cut wildfire risk to the property and to keep the thirty foot ring open for firefighting equipment and personnel.

The code strongly encourages homeowners to use fire resistant plants when landscaping that fire break area. This vegetation standard sits inside a broader set of hillside development controls: the overlay zone applies to development sites with slope gradients that trigger a hillside development plan under section 13-6D-3, bars any development on slopes over thirty percent under section 13-6D-4(D), and protects designated ridgelines from intrusion under section 13-6D-4(E). Because the fire break duty is triggered by a fire chief hazard determination rather than a citywide map, it can reach any qualifying hillside parcel the fire chief flags, not just parcels inside a separately mapped wildfire zone; West Jordan's code does not maintain a distinct mapped wildfire hazard overlay beyond this hillside standard.

Compliance is verified as part of the hillside development plan review the planning commission and city engineer conduct for the site, and ongoing maintenance of the fire break remains the property owner's responsibility once a hillside development receives approval.