Redlands, CA Fire Regulations: Wildfire Zones (2026)

Redlands City Code § 15.30.120 adds Section 302.3 to the city's 2025 California Wildland-Urban Interface Code, adopted by Ordinance 2998. It designates the local responsibility fire hazard severity zone for the City of Redlands using the geographical boundaries shown on the map adopted by Ordinance 2986. This designation is what activates the rest of Chapter 15.30 for the parcels it covers: Section 604.6's Defensible Space Zones and Section 603.5.1's 100-foot Vegetation Maintenance duty both apply, by their own terms, to "existing habitable buildings and structures within the High and Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone (VHFHSZ)," and Section 602.3.1 requires a preliminary fire protection plan addressing water supply, access, building ignition and fire resistance, fire protection systems, and defensible space for new development in these areas.

The Wildland-Urban Interface Code itself, based on the 2024 International Wildland-Urban Interface Code and incorporated into the 2025 California Building Standards Code, Title 24, Part 7, is jointly administered by the Redlands Fire Department and Development Services Department, identified in Section 15.30.040 as the dual authorities having jurisdiction; the city planning commission sits as the board of appeals under Section 15.30.100. Because the ordinance folds in the map by reference rather than reprinting parcel boundaries in the code text, a property owner must consult the adopted Ordinance 2986 map, available through the fire prevention office or city clerk, to confirm whether a specific address falls inside the designated zone before assuming any of Chapter 15.30's building or vegetation standards apply.