Tree waste rules in Washington: outdoor burning of brush, land clearing and permits

This page reports what the official source says. It is not legal advice: ask the office named here. It follows chapter 173-425 of the Washington Administrative Code on outdoor burning, which the code site marks as last updated June 1, 2026, and three Department of Natural Resources documents on burn permits.

Burning that the state rule covers

According to the chapter 173-425 text, the rule sets out a limited burning policy that tells the Department of Ecology and others to reduce outdoor burning to the greatest extent practical. It applies to residential burning, land clearing burning and storm or flood debris burning, among others, and leaves out agricultural burning and silvicultural burning, which have their own chapters. The chapter defines these terms.

Land clearing burning is outdoor burning of trees, stumps, shrubbery or other natural vegetation from projects that clear the land surface so it can be developed, used for a different purpose or left unused.
Residential burning is outdoor burning of leaves, clippings, prunings and other yard and garden refuse that comes from land next to a dwelling and is burned there by the owner or a designee.
Natural vegetation is unprocessed plant material including prunings, brush, branches, roots, stumps and trunk wood.

Where burning is prohibited

Section 173-425-040 says residential and land clearing burning may not be allowed in nonattainment areas and in urban growth areas, with dated phase-outs, and not in cities over 10,000 people after December 31, 2000. It says land clearing burning may not be allowed in areas with a density of 1,000 or more people per square mile that touch areas where it is already prohibited. It also bars these kinds of burning in any area where a reasonable alternative exists, defined as a recycling service, chipping service, transfer station or landfill within a reasonable distance, at a cost no higher than the statewide median tipping fee, that is less harmful to the environment than burning.

Materials and general conditions

Section 173-425-050 lists garbage, dead animals, asphalt, petroleum products, paints, rubber, plastics, paper other than fire starter, cardboard, treated wood, construction and demolition debris and metal as materials that may not be burned.
No outdoor fire may contain material, other than firewood, hauled from an area where burning that material is prohibited.
No fire may be lit where an air pollution episode, impaired air quality or a fire danger burn ban is declared. Smoke from land clearing burning eight hours after a declaration is prima facie evidence of unlawful burning, against three hours for other burning.
Fires are attended, kept 50 feet from structures, and need the landowner's permission.

Permits

Section 173-425-060 lists the burning that needs a permit, including residential burning in most areas and all land clearing burning, and says permitting agencies may charge a fee. A general residential permit is described for the first and second weekends in April and the third and fourth weekends in October, with burn piles no larger than four feet by four feet by three feet.

The Department of Natural Resources burn permit page says burning is allowed without a permit for a small burn pile that follows its rules, that a permit is needed otherwise, and that it does not permit burning of debris from land clearing operations. Its rules for burning without a permit apply on forest land regulated by the department. They limit debris pile size to 4 feet from July 1 to October 15 in most counties, allow one pile at a time, and say material gathered from improved property, such as yard and garden debris, cannot be burned under those rules.

The department's burning permit fee schedule, marked effective February 1, 2012, sets the fee by tons of consumable debris. It lists US$105.50 under 100 tons and US$357.00 for 100 to 500 tons. The permit page says the fee rests on tonnage the landowner calculates.

For other places see the table on tree waste and chip rules. Minnesota has its own page: tree waste rules in Minnesota.