Mason County, WA Fire Regulations: Fire Pits & Backyard Fires (2026)

Section 2.162.020 defines 'exempt appliances/devices' as gas appliances such as grills, bar-b-ques, and fire pits, along with smokers and wood-fired pizza ovens, placing a typical propane or gas fire pit outside the county's open-burning permit and restriction system entirely. A wood- or charcoal-fueled fire in a ring is instead 'recreational burning,' defined in the same section as cooking and campfires using charcoal or firewood in a metal, concrete, or rock circle such as those typically found in campgrounds.

Section 9.48.050 addresses those wood and charcoal recreational fires directly, along with ceremonial fires tied to a Native American ceremony or ritual: neither is directly regulated under the general rule burn program that limits residential yard debris burning to fourteen days a year. That is not the same as being unregulated. The section states that recreational and ceremonial fires remain subject to all other applicable open burning regulations, including setbacks and pile size, so a resident building a campfire-style fire pit still has to meet whatever setback and size limits apply under the county's broader burning rules, even without the permit requirements or day-count cap that govern yard debris fires. Because Chapter 9.48 carries no penalty section of its own, a violation of those carried-over setback or pile-size limits falls to Mason County Code Section 1.04.010's general penalty: a misdemeanor punishable by up to a $500 fine, up to 90 days in jail, or both.