Yakima, WA Fire Regulations: Wildfire Zones (2026)

Yakima is in central Washington's high-fire-risk shrub-steppe ecoregion. Cheatgrass and sagebrush on the foothills west, north, and south of the city carry fast-spreading grass fires under summer wind events; recent wildfires in the Naches and Cowiche corridors have approached the city's western neighborhoods. Yakima County adopted Wildland-Urban Interface amendments at YCC Chapter 13.10 (Amendments to the International Fire Code) covering unincorporated WUI areas, and the County maintains a Wildland Urban Interface program through Yakima County Public Services. Inside city limits, however, the 2021 Washington Wildland-Urban Interface Code (WAWUIC, intended for adoption at WAC 51-55) is not currently in force - SB 6120 and an emergency rule by the Washington State Building Code Council delayed adoption until the Department of Natural Resources develops and publishes new statewide wildfire-hazard and base-level wildfire-risk maps under RCW 19.27.560. Until that happens, wildfire-related rules in the City of Yakima come from: (1) YMC Chapter 10.05 adoption of the 2021 Washington State Fire Code (recreational fire, open-burning, and fire-protection rules including Chapter 49 wildland urban interface and IFC Section 304 combustible-waste provisions); (2) YMC Chapter 11.40 (12-inch hazardous-vegetation limit, adopted March 2024 from the 2021 IPMC); (3) YRCAA Stage 1/Stage 2 burn bans countywide on stagnant-air days; and (4) DNR fire-restriction declarations under RCW 76.04 during the statewide fire-protection season (typically April 15 through October 15, with restrictions tightening through summer). Washington Department of Natural Resources is the lead state wildfire-suppression agency for forested and unzoned lands around Yakima.