Defensible space refers to the management of vegetation around structures to reduce the possibility that a wildfire will ignite the structure. We perform defensible space inspections year-round by request with scheduled inspections in the spring through the summer enforcing State and County defensible space laws. The State Law is Public Resources Code 4291 and applies to improved parcels. The County Ordinance is Chapter 13A and applies to improved and unimproved parcels. 

Refer to CAL FIRE’s website for more information about defensible space. For a direct link to Fire-Smart Landscaping visit CAL FIRE's Fire-Smart Landscaping website.

Please contact us using the form below if you would like a defensible space inspection or to discuss what defensible space is.

Relevant Defensible Space Laws

• PRC 4291
• Chapter 13A Ordinance

AB 38 Defensible Space Inspections (Real Estate Defensible Sapce Inspections)

A law (AB 38) went into effect on July 1, 2021 that requires a seller of a property to have documentation of a compliant defensible space inspection if the property is located in:

1. State Responsibility Area (SRA) ranked as either High or Very High fire hazard severity zone (FHSZ), or
2. Local Responsibility Area (LRA) ranked as Very High FHSZ

There is no LRA ranked as very high FHSZ in the Northern Sonoma County Fire Protection District and thus all these requests must/should be referred to CAL FIRE using CAL FIRE’s website.

1. ​Click the “Defensible Space” button/icon.
2. Click the “defensible space inspection request form” hyperlink on the left side of the webpage. 
3. Click the blue “Fire Hazard Severity Zone” to determine if the property is located in SRA High or Very High FHSZ. 77% of the SRA in the District is either Very High or High. If the property is not located in a gray colored area, it is LRA. Bright red is LRA Very High (see west side of Cloverdale), the lighter red is SRA Very High, light orange is SRA High, and light yellow is SRA Moderate. SRA Moderate does not require a AB 38 inspection.
4. Click “Next” box on Step 2 website if property is located in SRA High or Very High.
5. Complete Requester Information, “Next” box, and compete inspection request form.

After following these steps, a CAL FIRE representative will contact the requester.