Nevada City, Calif. — The City of Nevada City has adopted a new defensible space ordinance and is implementing new inspection and community outreach practices to address wildfire safety in Nevada City.
After multiple public meetings involving the community, the Nevada City Fire Safety Advisory Committee and the City Council, the City of Nevada City has adopted a new vegetation management, defensible space, burning, and fireworks ordinance. The city is also implementing new inspection and outreach processes in order to partner with residents and property owners to help achieve compliance with regulations.
The new ordinance establishes standards that align Nevada City with the existing CalFire and Nevada County standards that are used in the areas surrounding Nevada City.
These standards include the establishment of zones of protection for structures including a new ember free zone encompassing the area 0-5 feet from a structure which the Fire Safety Advisory Committee, based on contemporary science, has found to be both the least challenging to maintain and the most impactful in terms of protecting your home from wildfire.
In May the City will begin inspections of all parcels against the new standards. Although enforcement for egregious violators is a possibility where the community’s safety is at risk, the focus of the inspection process is to partner with the community to identify conditions that are in violation of the ordinance which make the property more susceptible to the impacts of wildfire and to find ways to abate those conditions.
The City will be scheduling another citywide cleanup including green waste disposal event in early June among other activities to encourage the removal of storm debris and other green waste that will become a fire hazard as we move into the summer.
Information on the ordinance, defensible space best practices, and resources for the community are available on the City’s website using the “Wildfire Preparedness” tab on the homepage www.nevadacityca.gov
For additional information please contact Fire Division Chief Sam Goodspeed at 530-265-2351 or Sam.Goodspeed@nevadacityca.gov
Volunteers from the Fire Safety Advisory Committee, local Firewise communities, and other fire safety groups are available through Chief Goodspeed to speak with you and as a form of “Residents Helping Residents” to help you understand the rules and help us create a more fire safe environment in Nevada City.
Stakeholders are always invited to share their experiences, needs, and concerns as they relate to fire safety with the Nevada City Fire Safety Advisory Committee which meets at 6 PM on the third Thursday of each month at City Hall, 317 Broad Street, Nevada City, CA 95959.