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Washington Current Fire Restrictions (2026)

Conditional: Washington's statewide outdoor burn ban has ENDED. Governor's Emergency Proclamation 26-03 prohibited all outdoor and agricultural burning in all 39 counties "until noon on Wednesday, September 30, 2026," and it expired on its own terms at that hour; the Governor's later wildfire proclamation, 26-03.3 (signed September 28, 2026), does not extend the burn ban. DNR'S OFFICIAL BURN-RESTRICTION LAYER NOW SHOWS NO DNR BURN BAN IN 22 OF ITS 23 FIRE-DANGER AREAS after 10 more areas eased on October 16, 2026; the 23rd, Olympics, defers to Olympic National Forest and Olympic National Park. RULE BURNS ARE ALLOWED AGAIN from 12:01 a.m. on October 16, 2026 in the 3 Northeast-region areas where they had been prohibited since September 25, 2026 - Foothills, Kaniksu and Upper Basin: rule burns no larger than 10 feet in diameter (4 feet in diameter in Spokane County, in Foothills and Upper Basin) are allowed for forest debris from property that is not improved. CAMPFIRE LIMITS ARE OFF IN THOSE 3 AREAS (Upper Basin's entry was re-issued on the same terms effective October 23, 2026): the layer now states for Foothills, Kaniksu and Upper Basin alike that campfires are allowed on DNR-protected land in accordance with recreational fire rules (contact the county about recreation burning on improved property), where LawLert had last read campfires limited to designated campgrounds in Foothills and kept out of state land outside DNR campgrounds in Kaniksu and Upper Basin. In the 7 Southeast-region areas (Blue Mountain Grass and Brush, Chelan, Lower Basin, Lower Yakima, Northern Blue Mountains, Upper Yakima and Valley), from October 16, 2026 campfires are allowed on DNR-managed land under recreational fire rules, no longer only in designated campgrounds, and rule burns no larger than 10 feet in diameter are allowed for forest debris from property that is not improved. In Highlands (from October 16, 2026) and Methow (entry re-issued on the same terms effective October 23, 2026), campfires are allowed and rule burns no larger than 10 feet in diameter are authorized. Burning under a written DNR permit is allowed subject to its conditions everywhere. Upper White Salmon contains only national forest land and defers to Gifford Pinchot National Forest. The layer shows no DNR burn ban in Central Lowlands and Central WA Cascades (rule burning, permit burning and campfires authorized from October 9, 2026); Gorge West, South Lowlands, South WA Cascades and Vancouver (from October 9, 2026: rule burns no larger than 10 feet in diameter allowed for forest debris from property that is not improved, and campfires allowed, but on state land only in DNR campgrounds); North Cascade and North Lowlands (permit burns and campfires authorized from October 1, 2026); and Coast (from October 2, 2026: rule burns no larger than 10 feet in diameter and permit burns allowed; on state land, campfires only in DNR campgrounds). Fireworks, exploding targets, sky lanterns and tracer ammunition are illegal on all DNR-protected lands. A DNR burn restriction is a crime to violate. Restrictions are set area by area and change often, and county, city, fire-district, clean-air-agency, national forest and landowner rules can be stricter, including air-quality burn bans from the Department of Ecology or a local clean air agency - check DNR's Burn Portal (burnportal.dnr.wa.gov) and your county and fire district before you burn.

Official source: gis.dnr.wa.gov →

Check the live restriction status: burnportal.dnr.wa.gov →

General legal information, not legal advice — verify important decisions with a licensed attorney.