Island County, WA Fire Regulations: Outdoor Burning (2026)

Chapter 9.10, adopted under the Washington Clean Air Act (Chapter 70.94 RCW) and Chapter 173-425 WAC via a Memorandum of Agreement with the Northwest Clean Air Agency (NWCAA), governs residential burning, land clearing burning, and recreational fires; NWCAA separately permits agricultural burning, weed abatement fires, and storm/flood debris burning (Sections 9.10.010-.020). Section 9.10.040.C designates the Oak Harbor, Coupeville, Freeland Non-Municipal, and Langley Urban Growth Areas as limited outdoor burning areas where residential burning and land clearing burning are banned outright; material hauled from those areas cannot be burned elsewhere except firewood.

Outside a permit, only small recreational fires are allowed (Section 9.10.040.D). To burn a bonfire, do residential yard-debris burning, or clear land, a person must first get a permit from the Island County Health Services Director under Section 9.10.040.E. All burning, permitted or not, must avoid garbage, plastics, treated wood, and construction debris, must be attended at all times, kept 50 feet from structures, and extinguished immediately if it becomes a nuisance or the air quality is impaired (Section 9.10.040.F). The Director may inspect, condition, suspend, or revoke permits, and a Fire Marshal or air-quality burn ban automatically suspends any outstanding permit (Sections 9.10.040.K-L). Permit fees are set by Board of County Commissioners resolution (Section 9.10.060).