Wildfire defensible space in Marin County: inspections, tree rules, programs

Who inspects, and against what

Your local fire agency inspects (Mill Valley Fire, Central Marin, Ross Valley, Southern Marin, Tiburon FPD, Novato FPD, Kentfield FPD, Marin County Fire) with evaluations coordinated by the Marin Wildfire Prevention Authority. You get an online Wildfire Risk Report; enforcement is the local agency's. MWPA: info@marinwildfire.org. West Marin: dspace@marinwildfire.org, 415-275-1185. Southern Marin Fire prevention: 415-388-8182.

Standards are the state's (PRC §4291 / Gov Code §51182) plus local ordinance. Zone 0 is not yet an enforceable state rule (status), but several agencies here already inspect to it.

Programs you can use right now

• MWPA Resident Grant — Up to $2,500 per parcel per year, $15,000 lifetime, no match, for Zone 0–1 hazardous vegetation, gutters and guards, vents, noncombustible fence and gate sections. Needs a recent Wildfire Risk Report; apply inside the report. 415-342-8912. Page still labeled FY 2024/25 — confirm funding. Program page
• Marin Chipper Days — Free curbside pickup, six times a year, pre-register; piles to 20'×4'×4'. 2026 season nearly done as of October. Program page
• Southern Marin Fire on-demand chipper — Sausalito, Mill Valley, Tam Valley, Strawberry, Tiburon; takes juniper and cypress, not bamboo; 3-home minimum preferred. Program page
• Direct assistance for seniors, low-income, disabled — San Rafael (free removal of juniper, Italian cypress, bamboo, acacia; 415-485-3054), San Anselmo via Ross Valley Fire, Novato Fire (415-878-2693), Sleepy Hollow FPD. Program page
• Low-interest home-hardening and Zone 0 loans — MWPA with Redwood Credit Union, launching October 2026 through the Wildfire Risk Report. Program page
• Senior Measure C exemption — 65+, owner-occupied, under HUD income limits; apply February–June 30. Program page

Alerts: Alert Marin · evacuation zones at Genasys Protect. More on the resources page.

Tree ordinances vs. fire removal here

Nearly every Marin town protects trees (Corte Madera's code text couldn't be verified), and the exemptions differ: unincorporated Marin County and Tiburon exempt trees a fire inspector or fire marshal identifies as hazards; Larkspur fast-tracks its fire-prone species list on Fire Code Official sign-off; Fairfax has a ministerial permit for undesirable species; Novato waives the notice period for pyrophytes; Sausalito exempts blue gum, Monterey pine and cypress, redwood, and acacia at any size. Mill Valley and San Anselmo have no fire exemption — fire-danger reduction is an approval criterion and the report has to make the case.

City-by-city table with thresholds, exemptions, and penalties →

What we see most on site visits

• Juniper and Italian cypress hedges against houses on the flats of Mill Valley and San Anselmo — the first thing every inspector flags and the first thing the San Rafael and SMFD programs remove.
• Bay laurel and oak canopies closed over roofs on the wooded slopes of Tam Valley, Blithedale Canyon, Sleepy Hollow, and Fairfax; usually a pruning job, sometimes a thinning permit.
• Continuous broom and coyote brush on the open hillsides behind Novato and San Rafael — Zone 2 spacing work.
• Redwood groves with deep litter and drought-stressed tops in Mill Valley and Larkspur canyons — irrigation and litter management, not removal.

Towns

Mill Valley · San Anselmo · Fairfax · Larkspur · Corte Madera · Tiburon · Sausalito · Novato · Kentfield · San Rafael · unincorporated Marin

• Mill Valley
• San Anselmo
• Tiburon & Belvedere

How a visit works here

Text or call with the address and the notice or letter. The site consultation is $375 ($450 with a written opinion), scheduled within 7 days; the written Defensible Space Plan is $850 and includes a tree-by-tree table with permit status under the local ordinance. Fire-mitigation permit reports are $750–1,250. We don't sell or refer tree work. Services and pricing →