The following is a partial list of real estate related statutes which have recently been chaptered.
Permitting firebreaks around hospital, schools and similar facilities
Added by SB 841: Calif. Public Resources Code §4291.3
State law requires property owners within a state responsibility area or a high fire hazard severity zone to provide for a 30-foot firebreak around structures on a property, along with an additional 70 feet of additional fire protection to equal a total of 100 feet of defensible space in case of fire, unless a local agency requires more than 100 feet in order to respond to local conditions.
A state or local fire official can now, at his discretion, authorize property owners to extend — up to a radius of 300 feet or to the property line, whichever is shorter — the defensible space surrounding:
· hospitals;
· adult residential care facilities;
· schools;
· aboveground storage tanks;
· hazardous materials facilities; and
· other similar critical facilities.
Additional firebreaks or the implementation of appropriate vegetation management techniques may be used to ensure the defensible space surrounding these facilities are adequate.
