Vista, CA Fire Regulations: Propane Storage (2026)

62 of the Vista Municipal Code adopted by Ordinance No. 2025-02 on April 22, 2025, declares any parcel in the City of Vista that fails to meet its defensible space standards a public nuisance the owner must abate at his or her own expense. 030(E) lists "Other Defensible Space Requirements," and item 1 sets the propane rule directly: liquid propane tanks must carry a 10-foot perimeter clearance of bare mineral soil, completely free of vegetation or other combustible material, measured on a horizontal plane. The same subsection applies comparable clearance rules to firewood piles (10 feet of bare mineral soil, with wood kept 50 feet from the property line where a neighboring parcel has an improvement) and to ground-mounted photovoltaic arrays (10 feet of clearance with vegetation trimmed below 6 inches), showing the propane standard sits inside a broader wildfire-hazard mitigation scheme rather than standing alone.

40, requires that LPG tanks be secured to prevent rolling or movement whenever the Fire Authority Having Jurisdiction requires it. Enforcement of the defensible space chapter runs through the Fire Chief, who issues a "Notice to Abate Fire Hazard" giving the owner 21 days to comply, with a right to appeal to the City Council within 21 days of service; the Council must hear an appeal within 5 to 30 days, and if the hazard still is not fixed the city can forcibly abate it using city crews or a private contractor and recover the cost from the owner.