A South Coast city is stepping up its inspections to insure people have properly cleared brush on their property to prevent the spread of brush fires.
The City of Ventura normally sends out mandatory brush clearance notices to about 6,500 properties. In the past, the fire department would inspect a little under 10% of them. This year, firefighters are trying to get to all of of these properties.
The city is also going to, for the first time, start billing for the service. It will cost property owners around $39.00 a visit.
The standard in California is 100 feet of brush clearance around structures to give firefighters a defensible space against wildfires.
