San Diego's faster system for checking brush on private property is finding violations at a sharply lower rate, according to a city audit presented to the City Council's Audit Committee on Sept. 2. Fire-Rescue agreed to all 14 recommendations, leaving implementation rather than dispute as the next test.
The Proactive Brush Management Program covers 45,101 parcels. Based on inspections completed from August 2020 through September 2025, auditors calculated that each parcel would be reached only once every eight to 10 years. The report compared that pace with one- to three-year inspection goals identified in studies and other practices.
Fire-Rescue changed its method in early 2025. Inspectors moved from slower, on-site visits to visual checks made from adjacent public spaces. Coverage accelerated to an estimated two-year cycle, but each inspection under the new approach was about 30 times less likely to identify a violation, the auditor found.
That tradeoff is the report's central control problem. A completed inspection count can rise while the program becomes less effective at detecting hazardous conditions. Measuring only throughput would reward the faster process without showing whether dry vegetation and other violations were actually seen and corrected.
Routing added another loss. Inspectors largely assigned their own cases with limited supervisory direction, producing paths the audit described as inefficient and sometimes skipping parcels. Although assignments can be handled remotely, staff generally reported to Civic Center Plaza each morning and were not expected to begin field inspections until 90 minutes into a shift.
Auditors also found data gaps, uneven productivity and weak follow-through. Some parcels received multiple inspections while others were missed. The program lacked clear productivity standards, and performance varied among inspectors. Outstanding violations did not always receive the follow-up and enforcement needed to establish that the hazard had been corrected.
The penalty structure was light compared with several benchmark cities and counties. San Diego charges nothing at an initial inspection, $50 at a second and $300 at a third. The $300 amount had not kept pace with inflation; auditors estimated it would have been $438 when the city's fee analysis went to a council committee in February 2025. Other jurisdictions used higher charges or moved to abatement sooner.
The recommendations require standards, supervised case assignment and routing, follow-up inspections, appropriate fees and enforcement, and better public reporting. Fire-Rescue's agreement commits the department to those changes on paper. It does not show that the inspection method has already improved or that the unresolved cases have been cleared.
Brush management is a compliance system before it is a firefighting tactic. The city must identify the parcel, document the condition, notify an owner, reinspect and enforce when necessary. The audit found breaks at several of those handoffs.
The committee now has a measurable oversight job: demand dates for each recommendation, track the share completed and ask whether a faster inspection once again finds the hazards it is supposed to prevent. Agreement on all 14 recommendations provides a baseline, but only the follow-up record will show whether Fire-Rescue changed the program residents encounter.