There are good laws on the books and trained firefighters in the station houses. In the Spring time, fire marshalls make house calls to preach, teach and nag. But if the homeowner refuses to comply or cooperate, then the fire marshall is left with few palatable options. He can try to get a court order to force a homeowner into compliance with defensible space laws. The catch is, no one really expects a judge to enforce defensible space laws in the face of citizen opposition if it is going to make him politically unpopular.
Judges are mortal men with families and mortgages like anyone else.
Our firefighters don't need laws with teeth. They get tired just thinking about it. What they really need is the cooperation of an educated citizenry. The competition could be tough. We'd be up against Baghdad and Belgrade.