Backyard campfires, cooking fires, and bonfires burning charcoal or bare untreated wood are allowed on private property in unincorporated Snohomish County as recreational fires, provided they stay under three feet in diameter and two feet high, are attended, and are not during a burn ban.
Puget Sound Clean Air Agency defines recreational fires as cooking fires, charcoal barbecues, campfires, and bonfires using charcoal or bare untreated wood, on private property for cooking, pleasure, or ceremonial purposes. A recreational fire under three feet in diameter and two feet high needs no permit; fires for debris disposal are not recreational fires and are regulated separately. Only charcoal, dried firewood, or manufactured firelogs may be burned. Get the landowner's permission first, keep the fire attended by someone able to extinguish it, and never smoke out neighbors. Recreational fires are always banned during air-quality burn bans and some fire-safety burn bans; a Stage 1 fire-safety ban still permits recreational and cooking fires.
Illegal fires start at fines of roughly $1,000 plus fire-department response reimbursement; smoking out a neighbor is always illegal and you must extinguish the fire if it causes a nuisance.
Other ordinances people look up for this city. Green dot = verified primary-source excerpt.
Snohomish County, WA
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Snohomish County, WA
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Snohomish County, WA
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Snohomish County, WA
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Snohomish County, WA
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See how Snohomish County's backyard fires rules stack up against other locations.
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