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The national database of state and local wildfire hazard mitigation programs
serves as a clearinghouse of information about nonfederal policies and
programs that seek to reduce the risk of loss of life and property through
the reduction of hazardous fuels on private lands. If
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Title: |
Santa Barbara County, CA -- Ordinance, Special Fire Prevention and Suppression Provisions
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Type: |
Regulatory
Fuelbreaks
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Jurisdiction: |
County
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State: |
California
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Program Description: |
The Santa Barbara Ordinance contains special fire prevention and suppression measures for present and future improvements in subdivisions located in the County's mountain watershed areas. The Ordinance contains this statement of objectives: "Uncontrolled development of the hazardous mountain areas sets the scene for disaster. Structural fire losses from brush fires have been great, and losses have been increasing in recent years. Fire fighting forces alone cannot always furnish protection; measures to compensate for hazardous conditions must be planned and built into subdivisions." Further, "Mountain land considered for subdivision, or mountainous land within or adjacent to cities, is not 'wildland' -- it is undeveloped 'urban land'. It must be regarded in this light and be developed properly. The development of private lands in Southern California is inevitable. Comprehensive land-use planning is necessary for orderly growth and realization of the full economic and social benefits of this resource."
The fire safety standards contained in the Ordinance are recommended, and where appropriate, are required. The Provisions are found in the Santa Barbara County Code, Chapter 21, "Land Division", Article 1, "Subdivisions Division 1 in General", Section 21 -- 47.
CHAPTER 21 LAND DIVISION
Article I. Subdivisions Division 1. In General
Excerpts of Sec. 21-47. Special fire prevention and suppression provisions -- Dealing with Vegetation Management:
(n) Areas of extreme fire hazard shall be deemed to be special treatment areas. In general, areas of extreme fire hazard shall be deemed to be any area, which is covered with a continuous or nearly continuous highly flammable vegetative growth as determined by the planning commission or the board of supervisors as provided in this division.
(o) For the protection of present and future improvements and their users and occupants, the following fire safety requirements are recommended, and where appropriate, may be required:
(1) Safe Ingress and Egress. Area development should provide for ready access as to fire and other emergency equipment and for routes of escape to safely handle evacuations. Therefore, road and street system designs should provide maximum circulation consistent with topography to meet fire safety needs and the following conditions or such of them as are appropriate may be imposed:
(A) Require at least two different routes of entrance and egress to the subdivision or lot split.
(B) Require a sixty-foot right-of-way for the construction of two twelve-foot traffic lanes, two eight-foot parking lanes, and two ten-foot roadside strips upon which the fire hazard should be abated.
(C) Limit cul-de-sacs to six hundred feet terminated by a turn-around right-of-way of not less than ninety feet in diameter.
(D) Street grades should be limited to ten percent except for such distances as topographic conditions make greater grades practical.
(E) No street or road should have a centerline radius of less than fifty feet.
(F) The responsible fire agency may remove and clear within twenty feet on each side of every roadway all flammable vegetation or other combustible growth and may enter upon private property to do so. This should not apply to single specimens of trees, ornamental shrubbery or cultivated ground cover such as green grass, ivy, succulents or similar plants used as ground covers provided that they do not form a means of readily transmitting fire. As used in this section "roadway" means that portion of a highway or private street improved, designed, or ordinarily used for vehicular travel.
(2) Street Names and Numbers. To facilitate fire location and to avoid delays in response, all roads, streets, and buildings shall be designated by name or number clearly visible from the main traveled roadway.
(3) Community Firebreaks. Firebreaks separating communities or clusters of structures from the native vegetation may be required. Such firebreaks would be more properly termed "fuel-breaks" or "green belts" because all vegetation need not be removed, but thinned out or landscaped so as to reduce the volume of fuel.
(A) All easements for firebreaks for fire safety of built-up areas shall encompass access for fire fighting personnel and equipment, which may mean motorized travel in some cases; such easement shall be dedicated to this specific purpose by being recorded.
(B) Community firebreaks shall be coordinated with overall firebreak and fuelbreak plans of the mountain area.
The entire Ordinance may be viewed on the world wide web.
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