Olympia, WA Fire Regulations: Outdoor Burning (2026)

The City of Olympia's burn rule sits in chapter 13.12 of the Olympia Municipal Code, the garbage chapter, not in a stand-alone fire or air-quality title. Section 13.12.080 opens with a flat prohibition: it is unlawful for any person to burn any garbage or refuse within the city. The definition in § 13.12.020 is broad. "Garbage and refuse" means all waste and discarded materials, including rubbish and debris, waste, discarded food, animal and vegetable matter, wastepaper, cans, glass, ashes, offal and boxes.

The section then carves out a list of materials: wastepaper, boxes, rubbish and debris, brush, grass, weeds and cuttings from trees, lawns or gardens. The text separates two situations. Burning within the premises is allowed for those materials. Burning upon the lot upon which the premises is located is the situation that names the permit, which comes from the fire chief "as provided by law." The City of Olympia runs its own Olympia Fire Department, and § 13.12.080 does not print a permit fee, an application form, burn hours, a seasonal burn ban or a fire-danger trigger. That phrase sends the permit terms outside the section, so the fire chief's permit conditions control the details.

Three neighboring provisions frame the rule. Section 13.12.050 makes every person in possession, charge or control of premises responsible for having garbage and refuse removed and disposed of by the city's solid waste section. Section 13.12.070 leaves compost piles and the hauling of grass clippings, hedge or tree clippings outside the exclusive collection right. Section 9.40.150 of the criminal code makes reckless burning a gross misdemeanor: a person who knowingly causes a fire or explosion, on their own property or another's, and thereby recklessly places a building, other structure or any other property in danger of destruction or damage.