Cowlitz County, WA Environmental Rules: Defensible Space (2026)

2. 1(3), Methods of Achieving Required Flows, credits three escalating defensible-space widths: clearing a minimum 30 feet earns a 500 gallon-per-minute fire-flow credit, an additional minimum 50 feet earns a further 250 gallons per minute, and an additional minimum 100 feet earns another 250 gallons per minute, for up to 1,000 gallons per minute in combined credit if a site uses all three tiers. 090 adds two obligations the International Wildland-Urban Interface Code does not otherwise impose. 5, Covenant, requires the owner to record a covenant with the Cowlitz County Auditor's Office, on a form the code official provides, acknowledging continued responsibility for maintaining that cleared space for as long as the condition creating the fire-flow need exists, so the obligation runs with the parcel rather than expiring after construction.

6, Certification, then requires the owner to submit an annual certification to the code official confirming the defensible space is still being maintained, and the code gives the county authority to inspect the defensible space itself on a regular basis to verify compliance rather than relying solely on the paperwork. Because the covenant is recorded against the property, a buyer inherits the maintenance duty along with the land, and failing to keep the certification current can call the fire-flow calculation, and by extension the underlying building approval, into question.