What is a fuel break?
A fuel break is an area in which all flammable vegetation or combustible growth is reduced and cleared away according to established standards, thereby limiting the mass and arrangement of fire hazardous vegetation fuels which can rapidly transmit fire. Appropriate ornamental landscaping is permissible within a fuel break. Fuel reduction standards for fuel breaks limit the height of certain vegetation (brush, native shrubs, weeds and grasses), remove from trees any fuels which can ladder fire into the canopies, and provide adequate spacing between remaining plants.

Show All Answers

1. What are "Very High Fire Hazard Severity (VHFHS) Zones"?
2. What is meant by the term "defensible space"?
3. What are fire resistant plants?
4. What is considered "Fire hazardous vegetation"?
5. What is "Ornamental landscaping"?
6. What is a "Firebreak"?
7. What is a fuel break?