Colonie, NY Fire Regulations: Wildfire Zones (2026)

Unlike California (Government Code Section 51178 / 14 CCR Sections 1280.00 et seq.) or other western states, New York does not impose statewide Wildfire Hazard Severity Zone (WHSZ) mapping or defensible-space construction requirements. The New York State Uniform Fire Prevention and Building Code at 19 NYCRR Part 1219 adopts the 2020 International Fire Code, but IFC Chapter 49 ('Requirements for Wildland-Urban Interface Areas') and the companion International Wildland-Urban Interface Code (IWUIC) have NOT been adopted in New York. The Town of Colonie's local code (eCode360 CO0290) does not add Chapter 49 or any hillside fire-safety overlay either. New York's wildfire control system rests on three pillars instead: (1) the Department of Environmental Conservation's Forest Rangers, who provide wildfire response statewide; (2) 6 NYCRR Part 215, which imposes the statewide March 16 through May 14 annual brush burn ban and prohibits open burning of refuse year-round (see outdoor-burning entry); and (3) DEC's Adirondack and Catskill Forest Preserve fire-prevention rules in northern New York. The USDA Forest Service Wildfire Risk to Communities tool rates Albany County's overall wildfire risk as low. Colonie sits in the Hudson-Mohawk Valley plain at low elevation, includes substantial developed suburban acreage, the Mohawk River corridor, the Pine Bush Preserve (a globally rare inland pitch pine-scrub oak barrens), and the Albany International Airport. The Pine Bush Preserve does experience prescribed burns by the Albany Pine Bush Preserve Commission for ecological restoration, but those burns are managed under separate DEC and Preserve Commission authority, not a homeowner-facing WUI ordinance. New construction in Colonie is permitted under the NY Uniform Code at 19 NYCRR Parts 1219-1228, with no wildfire-specific overlays.