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

Walla Walla County Code § 15.04.141 makes it unlawful to release a hazardous air pollutant listed under Chapter 70.94 RCW into the ambient air outside a permit or emission limit, and separately bans burning garbage, dead animals, asphalt, petroleum products, paints, rubber products, plastics, treated wood, paper products, cardboard, metal, construction debris, demolition debris, rubbish, or anything that emits dense smoke or obnoxious odors, anywhere in the county. § 15.04.142 then defines residential burns, a limited category of open burning under Section 307 of the International Fire Code, available only on land outside all urban growth boundaries.

Only clean, dry, natural vegetation may go in a residential burn pile, and the pile is capped at four feet in diameter and three feet high, with just one pile ignited at a time. A responsible adult of at least eighteen must monitor the fire until it is fully out, and that person must be carrying a valid burn permit obtained from the community development department, with fees under Chapter 3.08; a single permit can cover up to two commonly-owned parcels. No residential fire may be lit within five hundred feet of forest slash or on someone else's land without written permission.

Burning is barred entirely whenever the Department of Ecology declares an air-pollution episode or impaired air quality, or a fire protection authority declares a burn ban for other reasons. A county burn control officer, trained and certified under state law, enforces the chapter alongside the sheriff's office and issues civil infractions in district court.