Ventura, CA Fire Regulations: Wildfire Zones (2026)
Key Facts
- Zones designated
- Moderate, High, Very High severity
- Map source
- CAL FIRE Fire Hazard Severity Zones in LRA, 7/1/2025
- Adopting ordinance
- Ord. No. 2025-012, 11-18-25
- Triggers
- Vegetation management, defensible space, construction rules
- Enforcing office
- Fire code official, Ventura Fire Department
Summary
The City of Ventura designates Very High, High and Moderate Fire Hazard Severity Zones under San Buenaventura Municipal Code Section 12.165.020, adopting the CAL FIRE-mapped Fire Hazard Severity Zones in LRA map effective July 1, 2025, and requiring vegetation management, defensible space and construction standards within the High and Very High zones.
Section 302.2.1 is added to read as follows:Section 302.2.1 Establishment of limits. Wildland-Urban Interface Fire Area’s required vegetation management, defensible space and construction methods shall be required in the High and Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zones within the City of San Buenaventura. The City of San Buenaventura hereby designates Very High, High and Moderate Fire Hazard Severity Zones as designated by the Director of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection and as depicted on a map entitled Fire Hazard Severity Zones in LRA, adopted July 1st, 2025, or as said map is subsequently amended which includes the Moderate, High and Very High Fire Severity Zones. This map is intended to supersede other maps previously adopted by the City of San Buenaventura designating high fire hazard areas.
Official source re-checked September 8, 2026: no newer edition of the code had been published (publisher’s edition: current through Ordinance 2026-008, passed May 12, 2026).
Full Breakdown
Ordinance No. 1 to establish the geographic reach of the city's wildfire rules. That section requires vegetation management, defensible space and construction methods in the High and Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zones and directs the city to use the fire hazard severity zone map designated by the Director of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, specifically the map entitled Fire Hazard Severity Zones in LRA, adopted July 1, 2025. That map, covering Moderate, High and Very High severity zones, expressly supersedes other maps the city previously adopted designating high fire hazard areas, so any older city hazard map no longer controls.
2 extends the hazardous-vegetation and fuel-management duty to State Responsibility Area land, land the fire code official designates High or Very High severity, and land any local agency designates High or Very High under Government Code Section 51179. 3 layers in compliance duties under Public Resources Code Section 4291, Government Code Section 51182, and specific Title 14 and Title 19 California Code of Regulations sections. 10 backs up enforcement against noncompliant parcels within the mapped zones.
Violations & Fines
Land the fire code official designates within the mapped Very High or High Fire Hazard Severity Zone becomes subject to the defensible-space and construction duties in Sections 603.2 through 604.3; a parcel that fails to meet them can be declared a public nuisance under Appendix J and abated using the procedures and time frames in Chapter 8.10 of the San Buenaventura Municipal Code.
Frequently Asked Questions
How does Ventura decide which properties are in a fire hazard zone?
What obligations come with being inside a High or Very High zone?
What law backs up the vegetation and construction rules in these zones?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Ventura
California rules heatmap·Compare Ventura to another location·View the California fire regulations overview
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Wildfire Zones in Nearby Cities
How other cities in Ventura County handle wildfire zones.