Kennewick, WA Fire Regulations: Wildfire Zones (2026)

Kennewick's wildfire context is the Columbia Basin shrub-steppe: hot dry summers, cheatgrass and sagebrush, and frequent grass and range fires especially July through September. Forty percent of the historical sagebrush shrub-steppe habitat in Benton and Franklin Counties has been lost to fire and conversion, which increases the share of remaining habitat that burns each season. Unlike California (Government Code Section 51178; 14 CCR Sections 1280.00 et seq.), Washington has NOT adopted statewide Wildfire Hazard Severity Zones or IFC Chapter 49 (Wildland-Urban Interface Areas). The City of Kennewick does not maintain a local Wildfire Hazard Severity Zone map. Instead, four authorities frame wildfire risk in Kennewick. (1) RCW 76.04 (Forest Protection) - administered by the Washington Department of Natural Resources (DNR), governs forest and wildland fire protection statewide, including DNR-issued burn bans, the Industrial Fire Precaution Level (IFPL) system, and DNR-coordinated fire response on protected lands. (2) Benton County Community Wildfire Protection Plan - first adopted in 2018 with WA DNR funding, the CWPP identifies high-priority shrub-steppe and wildland-urban interface zones in Benton County and prioritizes fuel-reduction projects. It is a planning document, not a regulatory zone map. (3) Benton County Fire Protection District No. 1 - the local fire-suppression authority serving the Kennewick area in cooperation with the Kennewick Fire Department, with mutual-aid agreements through DNR and surrounding districts. (4) Kennewick Municipal Code Chapter 15.30 (Fire Prevention Code) - adopts the Washington State Fire Code (WAC 51-54A), which does not include IFC Chapter 49. There are no city-specific ignition-resistant siding, ember-resistant vent, or 5-foot non-combustible zone requirements in Kennewick. The First Street Foundation rates Benton County as having moderate wildfire risk, with a meaningful share of properties in elevated-risk grassland exposure. Practical risk management in Kennewick relies on the KMC 9.48 weed-hazard rule (12-inch limit on dead or unirrigated vegetation), the BCAA outdoor-burning ban inside city limits, and seasonal DNR burn bans.