The Board of Supervisors is slated Tuesday to confirm the date for a public hearing to consider the Riverside County Fire Department’s request to attach fire mitigation charges to the tax bills of four property owners whose orchards and vineyards were cleared of weeds and other potential fire hazards at the county’s expense.
According to the fire department, the owners, whose properties are located in unincorporated areas of Hemet, Murrieta and Perris, are delinquent and altogether owe a total $158,189 under the county’s Fire Hazard Reduction Program.
The amounts, which range from a low of $20,393 to a high of $44,705 per owner, stem from activity in calendar year 2025.
The fire chief is requesting a hearing on July 14 to consider the assessments.
The reduction program involves deploying contractors to clear weeds and related overgrowth that might otherwise fuel brush fires during wildfire season, which generally spans May to November. In most cases, the orchards and vineyards that were mitigated were deemed “abandoned or neglected” under county Ordinance No. 772, according to the fire department.
Officials said property owners were served with orders to abate, or mitigate, the potential hazards, and when inspectors received no reply or saw that no action had been taken, contractors were sent to the locations under county authority to clear away the excess foliage.
“The (ordinance) is designed to protect life, property and the environment by addressing hazardous conditions that increase fire risk and other public safety concerns,” according to an agency statement posted to the board’s agenda for Tuesday.
The actions geared to the orchards and vineyards are separate from fire hazard mitigation operations that targeted residential properties last year. A separate hearing on the fire department’s request to recover those costs is set for June 23.
Agency documents stated property owners were billed to recover the county’s expenditures, but the fire department received no response. A $254 administrative fee has also been folded into the final bill sent to the proprietors.
The charges would function as tax liens on the orchards and vineyards.
The owners who received assessment notices would have an opportunity to challenge them and ask the board for relief on July 14.