Sonora Brush Clearing
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Home base, where Highways 49 and 108 meet

Brush clearing in Sonora, CA: city lots and the hills around them

The Sonora Fire Department describes the city as heavily wooded, with steep terrain, and it inspects defensible space inside city limits every year. We do brush clearing in Sonora to the city's own code as well as state law: the 100 feet around your house cleared zone by zone, empty lots cut back, and a strip cleared along a property line that meets a driveway or a building. You get one written price before we start.

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Bare ground under a wooden deck and its stairs beside a fence, the dry grass and brush cleared away
The ground under a deck and its stairs, cleared down to bare dirt.

What is different about clearing brush in Sonora?

Sonora sits in the oak and grass band of the foothills. On the city's own Dragoon Gulch Trail, native oaks and ponderosa pines stand over the brush, with sticky whiteleaf manzanita prominent among it. On a city lot that means grass under the oaks, manzanita on the slopes and limbs low enough to carry a ground fire into a tree. We cut it by hand with brush cutters and chainsaws, so a steep back yard is no problem.

Most of Sonora is mapped Very High fire hazard: the city's 2019 Safety Element says so, and the 2025 state map puts downtown in Very High. Zones change parcel by parcel, so check your address. Inside city limits the rule on top of state law is Chapter 8.12, the city's defensible space ordinance. It asks for dead grass cut to 2 inches and tree limbs raised to 6 feet or a third of the tree's height within 30 feet of a building, and out to 100 feet it allows 2 inches of loose leaves and twigs where CAL FIRE's guidance allows 3. If one figure decides your notice, Sonora Fire can confirm it at (209) 532-7432. The whole picture is on our page about defensible space rules in Sonora and Tuolumne County.

The Washington Fire started on August 26, 2021 at Golf Links Road and Highway 108, west of Sonora, burned 100 acres and destroyed 18 structures, fought under a unified command of CAL FIRE and the City of Sonora. For the brush we cut, a burn permit inside city limits comes from the Sonora Fire Department: $60 a year, with an inspection of the burn site, and burning only on a permissive burn day (burn line (209) 533-5598). Or skip the burn: we chip on site, or haul to the green waste site on Camage Avenue with the dump fees in the price.

The kind of work a Sonora lot needs

Our own photos from our own jobs. Tap one to see it larger.

A strip of bare ground cleared along a wooden fence beside a flagstone path
Cleared down to bare ground along a fence and a flagstone path.
A gravel yard cleared of grass and brush along a wooden fence and a rock wall
A gravel yard cleared along a fence and a rock wall.
A small burn pile smoking beside stacked oak rounds under a tree
A small burn pile beside stacked oak rounds. Burning takes a permit and a burn day.
The same side yard raked down to clean gravel, with nothing left against the wall Dead branches and dry grass piled along the side of a house next to a fence

Dead limbs and grass removed along a wall

Dead limbs and dry grass right against the siding, the first five feet inspectors look at. Raked down to gravel.

Before and after photos of one of our jobs

From a customer in Sonora

Very responsible and capable crew. Great communication, and good hard work that helps our Firewise Community.

Julie J. Sonora Fire clearance

A 5-star Google review of our crew, quoted word for word.

What we clear in Sonora

Most Sonora jobs mix all three, done on one visit for one written price.

A crew member in an orange shirt feeding cut brush into a green chipper by a driveway, another at the brush pile

Defensible Space Clearing

The 100-foot fire clearance CAL FIRE inspects

Cleared to Chapter 8.12 as well as the state's 100 feet: grass down to 2 inches near the house, limbs raised, the property-line strip cleared. You get photos of each zone when we finish.

  • The first five feet cleared of dead plants, needles and anything that burns
  • Grass cut, dead plants removed and limbs kept off the roof and chimney out to 30 feet
  • Grass cut short, shrubs and trees spaced and ladder fuels removed out to 100 feet

Brush Clearing

Also called brush removal or clearing overgrown brush

Manzanita, blackberry, poison oak and low oak limbs cut back on steep city yards, then chipped or hauled. Poison oak is bagged and hauled, never burned.

Lot and Land Clearing

Vacant lots, acreage, fence lines and fire breaks

The city code covers parcels with or without a building, so an empty lot gets its grass cut and its property-line strip cleared too.

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Brush clearing in the towns around Sonora

Highways 49 and 108 meet in Sonora, so every town below is a short drive from our base: Columbia to the north and Jamestown to the south on 49, East Sonora, Soulsbyville and Tuolumne to the east, and Twain Harte and Mi-Wuk Village up 108.

Every town we serve in Tuolumne and Calaveras counties

Brush clearing in Sonora: questions

Inside city limits? Say so in the form and add the date on any Sonora Fire notice, so we book the work before it.

Call (209) 243-5574
Do you clear brush inside Sonora city limits?

Yes. Sonora is our home base. We clear city lots, empty parcels and the steep yards behind them, to state law and the city's Chapter 8.12, and you get one written price before we start.

What does Sonora's code ask that state law does not?

It covers parcels with or without a building, adds a 10-foot reduced fuel strip along property lines that border a building, an exit route or a driveway, and asks for dead grass cut to 2 inches. Sonora Fire, (209) 532-7432, can confirm the figures for your lot.

When does Sonora Fire inspect?

The Sonora Fire Department inspects defensible space in the city every year but does not publish the month. Clearing by late May, before the grass is fully dry, keeps you ahead of it. If you have a notice, put its date in your estimate request.

Can I burn the brush inside city limits?

Only with a burn permit from the Sonora Fire Department, which costs $60 a year and comes with an inspection of the burn site, and only on a permissive burn day. Call the burn line, (209) 533-5598, first. Poison oak is never burned.

Get a free brush clearing estimate

Tell us where the property is and what needs clearing. We call you back the same day, usually within the hour, and set a time to walk it with you, in person or on the phone if you are out of the area.

What happens after you send it

  1. We call you back the same day, usually within the hour.
  2. We walk the property with you, usually within a day or two.
  3. You get one written price. Nothing starts until you say yes.

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Fully insured. One written price before we start. 5-star reviews of our crew.