Tuscaloosa, AL Fire Regulations: Wildfire Zones (2026)

Tuscaloosa is unusual among Alabama cities in having formally adopted a wildland-urban interface code. Under Tuscaloosa Code Section 11-29 (Ord. No. 8344, 2016; readopted as the 2021 edition by Ord. No. 9159, January 2022), the city adopted by reference the 2021 International Wildland-Urban Interface Code (IWUIC) as the 'Tuscaloosa Wildland-Urban Interface Code,' applying within the corporate limits and police jurisdiction. The IWUIC is designed to reduce wildfire risk where development meets wildland vegetation. Its defensible-space provisions (Sections 603 and 604) require modifying the fuel load around structures in interface areas - thinning, maintaining, or removing natural vegetation - and ignition-resistant construction standards may apply to new structures in designated hazard areas. The code official determines where these requirements apply based on hazard and vegetation conditions. Separately, wildfire risk in the Tuscaloosa area is also managed at the state level: the Alabama Forestry Commission requires burn-permit notification for woods and brush burning and can declare drought emergencies and burn bans that suspend outdoor burning countywide. The Tuscaloosa County EMA has issued such burn bans during dry periods. Tuscaloosa's own open-burning rule (Section 11-28) reinforces this by prohibiting burning during NWS air-stagnation advisories, governor-declared drought emergencies, and city no-burn advisories. Residents near wooded or interface areas should keep vegetation and debris cleared from around structures.