Rosalia/Whitman County Fire Protection District 7 Email Webmaster
In the absence of a burning ban from local, county, or state officials, residential burning is legal in Whitman Country Rural Fire District #7 as long as the following conditions of WAC 173-425-060 are met:
(c) The following conditions apply to all residential burning allowed without a permit under WAC 173-425-060 (2)(a) or allowed under a general, verbal, or electronic permit:
(i) The person responsible for the fire must contact the permitting agency and/or any other designated source for information on the burning conditions for each day.
(ii) A fire may not be ignited, and must be extinguished, if an air pollution episode, impaired air quality condition, or fire danger burn ban that applies to the burning, is declared for the area.
(iii) The fire must not include garbage, dead animals, asphalt, petroleum products, paints, rubber products, plastics, paper (other than what is necessary to start a fire), cardboard, treated wood, construction/demolition debris, metal, or any substance (other than natural vegetation) that normally releases toxic emissions, dense smoke, or obnoxious odors when burned.
(iv) The fire must not include materials hauled from another property.
(v) If any emission from the fire is detrimental to the health, safety, or welfare of any person, if it causes damage to property or business, or if it causes a nuisance, the fire must be extinguished immediately.
(vi) A person capable of extinguishing the fire must attend it at all times, and the fire must be extinguished before leaving it.
(vii) No fires are to be within fifty feet of structures.
(viii) Permission from a landowner, or owner's designated representative, must be obtained before starting an outdoor fire.
(ix) Any burn pile must not be larger than four feet by four feet by three feet.
(x) Only one pile at a time may be burned, and each pile must be extinguished before lighting another.
(xi) If an outdoor container is used for burning, it must be constructed of concrete or masonry with a completely enclosed combustion chamber and equipped with a permanently attached spark arrester constructed of iron, heavy wire mesh, or other noncombustible material with openings not larger than one-half inch.
(xii) No fire is permitted within five hundred feet of forest slash.
Persons not able to meet these requirements or the requirements in WAC 173-425-050 must apply for and receive a written permit before burning. Failure to comply with all requirements of this subsection voids any applicable permit, and the person responsible for burning may be subject to enforcement action under subsection (6) of this section.