Wildfire Ready Starts at Home
Working Together for a Safer Agoura Hills
Living in Agoura Hills means enjoying beautiful neighborhoods,
mature trees, open space, and the natural landscape that makes our community special.
It also means recognizing that wildfire preparedness is a shared responsibility.
Preparing your property does not have to be complicated. Keeping roofs and gutters clear, removing dead or dry vegetation, maintaining hedges, and creating separation between combustible vegetation and your home can make an important difference. Home hardening matters too, especially around vents, eaves, decks, windows and other places where wind-blown embers can enter or collect.
Good wildfire preparation also means being a good neighbor. Trees, hedges and vegetation do not always stop neatly at property lines. Talk with your neighbors when vegetation creates a shared concern, and work together whenever possible. Residents should never enter another person’s property or remove vegetation without permission, but communication can go a long way toward resolving
concerns before they become problems.
The Agoura Hills Municipal Code also establishes requirements for fences, walls and hedge barriers. Within a required front yard, the maximum height is generally 3 1/2 feet. Interior side and rear yards generally allow up to 6 feet. Corner lots are a little different: along the street-side property line, a hedge, fence or wall is generally limited to 3 1/2 feet in height. It may be up to 6 feet tall only when it is located at least 5 feet back from that street-side property line. In other words, 5 feet is the setback distance – not the allowed height. See AHMC §§ 9606.2 and 9606.3.
Our trees also deserve special attention. Agoura Hills protects qualifying trees under its Protected Tree Preservation Regulations. Before substantial pruning, grading, construction, root disturbance or other non-routine work around a protected tree, residents should check with the City to determine whether review or a permit is required. The City’s Tree Protection Zone extends 5 feet beyond the
dripline and is never less than 15 feet from the trunk. See AHMC § 9657 et seq.
Wildfire safety isn’t about having the perfect yard. It’s about having a prepared property. Maintain your vegetation, harden your home, keep access and visibility clear, communicate with your neighbors and ask questions before beginning work when you’re unsure about City requirements. When individual homeowners take these steps, the benefit extends beyond a single property. A prepared home helps create a prepared neighborhood – and a prepared neighborhood helps protect Agoura Hills.
When individual homeowners take these steps, the benefit extends beyond a single property. A prepared home helps create a prepared neighborhood – and a prepared neighborhood helps protect Agoura Hills.
Trinece Rose-Bandy, is the Senior Code Compliance Officer of the City of Agoura Hills
Municipal Code references: AHMC §§ 9606.2-9606.3 and 9657 et seq.
