Kennewick, WA Fire Regulations: Brush Clearance (2026)

Kennewick sits on the Columbia Basin shrub-steppe in arid Eastern Washington. By late summer, dried cheatgrass, tumbleweed, and unirrigated weeds become flashy fuels that drive grass fires. The City regulates this through Kennewick Municipal Code Chapter 9.48 (Weed Hazards). KMC 9.48.010 defines a 'Weed Hazard' as grasses, weeds, or other vegetation which have grown and died or which are not irrigated and which exceed 12 inches in length, and KMC 9.48 declares maintaining a Weed Hazard to be a public nuisance. Exemptions include public parks, public-facility and open-space zones, areas of pristine vegetation, natural habitats for indigenous wildlife, and agriculturally used property. KMC Chapter 9.44 (Substandard / Unfit Buildings) overlaps where vegetation creates a 'fire hazard, including any building, device, apparatus, equipment, combustible waste or debris, or vegetation which may cause fire or explosion.' Enforcement is by the Kennewick Code Enforcement Division. The standard compliance timeline under KMC 9.44 is a 45-day warning letter; for weeds-only cases the timeline is shortened to 20 days. If the owner fails to abate, the City may cut and bill the cost back to the property as a lien, and may also pursue civil or criminal infractions. Unlike California Public Resources Code Section 4291 or Texas 'defensible space' rules, Kennewick does not impose a specific 30-foot or 100-foot defensible-space ring; instead it requires that vegetation be kept under 12 inches or be irrigated. Tumbleweed (Russian thistle) that blows onto property from elsewhere is a recurring issue: the Benton Clean Air Agency permits limited tumbleweed burning inside city limits with a call to the BCAA burn line, but the property owner must keep the lot from becoming a Weed Hazard in the first place.