Section 4906.1.1 of the California fire code is hereby added to read as follows:
4906.1.1 Maintenance. Persons owning, leasing, controlling, operating or maintaining buildings or structures in, upon or adjoining hazardous fire areas, and persons owning, leasing or controlling land adjacent to such buildings or structures, shall at all times:
Maintain an effective fuel modification zone by removing, clearing, or modifying away combustible vegetation and other flammable materials from areas within 100 feet from such buildings or structures. (See exception 3 for fire-resistive construction and other features for approval and/or a reduction of the fuel modification zone.) The fuel modification zone may be replanted with either approved irrigated, fire-resistant planting material or approved non-irrigated, drought-tolerant, fire-resistant plant material. Use of plants, trees, and/or shrubs on the Redlands fire department wildland urban interface high fire severity area undesirable list, must be specifically approved by the fire code official. Use of any of the plantings on the list is subject to periodic, ongoing inspections by the fire department to ensure proper maintenance. Inspections may incur fees payable by the property owner. Failure to maintain the plants and trees on this list in accordance with plan approval could result in the plants, trees, and/or shrubs being ordered to be removed at the expense of the property owner. Replanting of the fuel modification zone may be required for erosion control.
Exceptions:
1. Single specimens of trees, ornamental shrubbery or similar plants used as ground covers, provided that they do not form a means of rapidly transmitting fire from the native growth to any structure.
2. Grass and other vegetation located more than 30 feet from buildings or structures and less than 18 inches (457 mm) in height above the ground need not be removed where necessary to stabilize the soil and prevent erosion.
3. With the approval of the fire code official, the width of the fuel modification zone may be reduced where fire-resistive structures or other features are constructed. However, in no case shall the fuel modification zone be reduced to less than 30 feet. See California building code chapter 7A and international wildland-urban interface code for the minimum requirements of a fire-resistive structure.
Remove portions of trees, which extend within 10 feet of the outlet of a chimney,
Maintain trees adjacent to or overhanging a building free of deadwood, and
Maintain the roof of a structure free of leaves, needles or other dead vegetative growth.
If the owner fails to correct such conditions, the fire code official is authorized to cause the same to be done and make the expense of such correction a lien upon the property where such condition exists.
(Ord. 2948, 2022: Ord. 2900, 2019: Ord. 2840, 2016)