How do we set up a wildfire defensible space program for our HOA's common areas?

By OurHOA · General information · Revised September 26, 2026

How an HOA board sets up a wildfire program: a local risk assessment, zone-by-zone work on common land, chipping days, owner rules and Firewise USA recognition.

Part of the HOA board handbook: vendors, projects and upkeep.

The short answer

A wildfire program for a small association has four parts. Get a risk assessment from your state forest service or local fire department. Treat the common land the assessment flags, starting with the greenbelt and open space that touches houses. Give owners a way to clear their own lots, with a chipping day or two so the cut brush has somewhere to go. And rewrite any landscaping rule that works against the plan, such as a requirement to keep mature shrubs against the house or a ban on removing trees. Firewise USA recognition is an optional fifth piece that gives the program a structure and a yearly deadline. None of this needs a big budget in year one. It needs a map, a written plan and a board member who owns it. Rules differ by state, county and fire district, and your declaration may assign land and duties differently than described here, so treat this as a planning guide and not legal advice.

Start with an assessment and a map

Call the agency that does wildfire mitigation where you are. In Colorado that is the local Colorado State Forest Service field office or your fire protection district. In Texas, Texas A&M Forest Service runs the state's Firewise USA program and tells communities to enlist a WUI coordinator to complete the risk assessment. In Florida, the Florida Forest Service has wildfire mitigation specialists, and its community hazard scoresheet rates a neighborhood on access, vegetation, building construction and fire protection, from low to extreme. Ask the specialist to walk the property with two board members. Bring a plat map that shows which land the association owns and maintains, because the assessment is only useful if you can match each recommendation to an owner. Mark three things on the map: association land within 100 feet of any house, the roads and gates fire trucks would use, and places where brush or trees run continuously from open land up to a fence line. That last category is where the first money should go.

Treat the common land by zone

The Colorado State Forest Service Home Ignition Zone guide splits the area around a house into three zones measured from the structure: 0 to 5 feet, 5 to 30 feet, and 30 to 100 feet. Most association land sits in zones 2 and 3 behind the houses, so write the contractor scope around those numbers. In zone 2, the guide says to mow grass to 4 inches or less, thin trees until there are at least 10 feet between crowns, remove ladder fuels, and prune branches to 6 to 10 feet off the ground or a third of the tree's height, whichever is less. In zone 3, it suggests 6 to 10 feet between crowns and keeping ladder fuels in check. It also says chipped or piled slash should sit 30 feet or more from a home, so do not let the crew blow chips into a solid mat behind the fence line. Timing matters too. The same guide warns against pruning or cutting pinon between April and October, when the pinon Ips beetle is active. In Texas oak country, the association's tree contract should already carry oak wilt pruning limits, and our guide on planning an HOA tree maintenance program covers those. Put the work out to bid with the map attached, and ask each bidder to price per acre and per tree so you can phase it over two or three budgets.

Run chipping days instead of burn piles

Owners will clear their lots if they have somewhere to put the brush. A chipping day solves that. Hire a crew with a chipper for one or two days, ask owners to stack cut branches at the curb with the cut ends facing the street, and set a size limit the crew can handle. Ask your county, fire district and conservation district whether they already run a chipping program or share the cost, because some do. Skip burn piles. They put fire on the ground in a community you are trying to protect, and the rules are strict. In Texas, Local Government Code section 352.081 lets a county commissioners court ban or restrict outdoor burning during drought for up to 90 days at a time, and knowingly violating the order is a Class C misdemeanor. In Florida, section 590.125(2) requires authorization from the Florida Forest Service before an open burn starts, and the person responsible must stay until the fire is out. Sample notice paragraph: 'Chipping day is Saturday, October 10. Stack branches up to 6 inches thick at the curb by 7 a.m., cut ends toward the street. No stumps, roots, lumber, trash bags or loose leaves. The crew will make one pass.'

Fix the rules that get in the way

Read the architectural guidelines with the assessment in hand. Many older communities require dense foundation plantings, ban tree removal without approval, or require wood mulch right up to the siding, which the Home Ignition Zone guide says to keep out of the first 5 feet. Colorado already limits how far a board can push back. C.R.S. 38-33.3-106.5(1)(e) says an association may not prohibit an owner from removing trees, shrubs or other vegetation to create defensible space around a dwelling, as long as the work follows a written plan from the Colorado State Forest Service, a certified plan writer or the local fire authority, and is no more extensive than the plan requires. The owner must register the plan with the association before work starts. The association can require changes only with the consent of whoever wrote the plan, and it can still enforce its standards on slash removal, stump height, revegetation and contractors. The water-wise landscaping rules in 38-33.3-106.5(1)(i.5) also leave boards free to restrict changes that interfere with fire buffers or defensible space. Write a short resolution that lists noncombustible materials for the 0 to 5 foot zone as approved, sets out how to register a plan, and states your slash and stump standards. Outside Colorado, check your own state code for a similar rule. Either way, a written policy settles the question before an owner shows up with a chainsaw.

Decide whether to join Firewise USA

Firewise USA is a recognition program run by NFPA with the USDA Forest Service and the National Association of State Foresters. The requirements fit an HOA well. A site needs at least 8 and no more than 2,500 dwelling units. A board or committee sets the boundary, works with a local wildfire expert on a community risk assessment, and writes a three-year action plan. Each year the site must hold an education event and invest the equivalent of one volunteer hour per dwelling unit in risk reduction, so a 100-home community owes 100 hours of work or the dollar equivalent. Owners' own yard work counts if you collect it on a worksheet. Renewal reports are due every November, the action plan is updated at least every three years, and the risk assessment at least every five. The payoff is structure: a plan the board did not have to invent, a state liaison to call, and a yearly deadline that keeps the program from fading after the first chipping day.

A first-year calendar

January: the board appoints a wildfire committee of two or three owners and one director, and requests an assessment. February to March: walk the property with the specialist and mark the map. April: adopt the landscaping resolution and the budget for common-area work, with a motion such as 'Moved to adopt the wildfire mitigation plan dated March 18, to authorize fuel reduction on association parcels A and C at a cost not to exceed $9,500 from the grounds line, and to schedule chipping days in May and October.' May: first chipping day and the education event. Summer: contractor work on the priority parcels, timed around local pest and nesting limits. October: second chipping day. November: tally volunteer hours and, if you joined Firewise USA, file the renewal. December: put next year's phase in the budget.

Mistakes boards make

Clearing too much. A moonscaped greenbelt invites erosion and owner anger, and the zone guidance calls for spacing, not bare ground. Skipping the ownership check, then paying to thin a strip that belongs to the county or to a lot owner. Doing one big project and never budgeting the follow-up mowing and re-thinning, which grasses and sprouting shrubs make necessary every few years. Letting the contractor leave slash piles on site. And never telling the insurer. Send your agent the assessment, the plan and before-and-after photos at renewal, and ask in writing whether the carrier gives any credit for the work. Our guide on reading an HOA insurance renewal quote covers what else to send.

Sources

These guides are general education for HOA boards and residents, not legal, tax, or financial advice. Rules vary by state and by your community's governing documents - check with a professional for your situation.

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