Lewis County, WA Outdoor Cooking: Smoker Rules (2026)

1 sets the rule that lets a smoker, grill, or barbecue pit operate close to a house: a bonfire cannot be conducted within 50 feet of a structure or combustible material unless the fire is contained in a barbecue pit, in which case the 50-foot bonfire setback does not apply, though any condition that could let the fire spread within 50 feet of a structure must still be eliminated before lighting it. This carve-out is what separates ordinary backyard smokers and covered barbecue pits from the tighter rules that apply to open bonfires and brush piles elsewhere in Section 307.

5, a garden hose connected to a water supply or comparable equipment, be available for immediate use at the cooking site. Because a barbecue pit is treated under the bonfire exception rather than as unregulated cooking, it remains subject to the county's broader burn-ban authority: the Building Official can issue an emergency discontinuance order suspending all outdoor burning, including barbecue pits used under this exception, when conditions threaten public health, safety, or property, until the Board of County Commissioners lifts the order.