Spokane's rules for backyard fire pits and outdoor fireplaces: the 25-foot setback, summer and winter burn restrictions, wood versus gas, and placement.
You can have a wood fire in a Spokane backyard. Inside the City of Spokane it takes no permit, and Spokane Clean Air allows recreational fires on private land across the county. The rules are specific, though: how far the fire sits from the house, how big it is, what it burns, and when it can burn at all. Summer fire restrictions shut down open fire pits for part of most years, which is why the fuel and the type of fire feature are the first design decisions, not the last.
The everyday rules for a wood fire
These apply whenever no restriction is in effect. They come from Spokane Clean Air's recreational fire rules and the fire code Washington adopts, which sets the same 25-foot distance.
- Distance: at least 25 feet from any structure or combustible material, which Spokane Clean Air spells out as the house, decks, fences, sheds and other outbuildings. Anything that could carry the fire toward a structure within that distance has to be dealt with before lighting. If smoke becomes a nuisance to neighbors, Spokane Clean Air can enforce a 50-foot setback under state rules.
- Size: a fire no larger than 3 feet across and 2 feet high.
- Fuel: clean, dry firewood, manufactured logs or charcoal. Spokane Clean Air's outdoor burning regulation describes firewood as split, seasoned wood with less than 20 percent moisture. A recreational fire is never a way to get rid of yard debris, paper or garbage.
- Attendance: someone able to put the fire out stays with it until it's out, with a garden hose, water, dirt or sand, or a portable extinguisher rated 4-A or better close at hand.
- Smoke: a fire can't smoke out the neighbors. If its smoke becomes a nuisance, it has to be put out.
A landlord, lease or homeowners association can still prohibit fires the rules would otherwise allow, and the City of Spokane Fire Department suggests checking with yours.
When fires are restricted
Two kinds of restrictions, from different agencies, cover different seasons.
Summer fire danger restrictions
When wildfire danger rises, fire officials for the City of Spokane, Spokane Valley Fire Department, Spokane County and nearby cities restrict outdoor burning together. The dates vary with the weather, but Spokane Clean Air says they typically run from July into October. In 2026 they took effect June 30. While they are in effect:
- Not allowed: recreational fires without a chimney, such as a backyard fire pit or campfire burning firewood or charcoal. Fire bowls with removable mesh screens are not allowed either.
- Allowed: manufactured devices with spark arrestors, such as chimineas, barbecues, outdoor fireplaces and patio warmers, used as their makers intend. The City's 2026 order lists clean, dry seasoned firewood, charcoal, propane and natural gas as approved fuels.
Anyone who doesn't put out a fire when fire officials order it can face penalties. Spokane Clean Air's fire danger fact sheet shows which devices are which.
Fall and winter air-quality restrictions
Spokane Clean Air issues its own air-quality restrictions when fine-particle pollution builds up, most often in late fall and winter. During a Stage 1 or Stage 2 restriction, all outdoor burning of solid fuel, wood and charcoal included, is prohibited across Spokane County. A wood fire pit built for winter evenings sits idle on those days.
On rural land under Washington DNR fire protection, DNR's burn restrictions apply as well, and on lots like those around Colbert, wildfire planning shapes the whole yard, not just the fire pit. Spokane Clean Air's Burn Info Line, (509) 477-4710, and its website list the restrictions in effect.
Wood or gas?
Wood gives you the crackle and the smell, and it follows every rule above. Gas is treated differently in ways that matter here:
- Spokane Clean Air's regulation does not count propane or natural gas fires as recreational fires.
- Its air-quality restrictions are written around solid fuel: wood and charcoal.
- During summer fire danger restrictions, propane and natural gas stay on the list of approved fuels for allowed devices. The restriction orders don't name built-in gas fire pits either way, so ask your fire agency how it treats the specific unit before counting on fires in August.
Gas brings its own permit. Inside the City, running a gas line to a fire pit or fireplace takes a mechanical permit that covers the piping and the appliance it feeds, the work needs a licensed gas mechanic, and a propane tank is a permit item of its own. A gas line run for a fire feature can also serve an outdoor kitchen nearby.
Chimneys and outdoor fireplaces
Summer restrictions turn on whether a fire has a chimney and spark arrestor. Manufactured chimineas and outdoor fireplaces with spark arrestors stay usable during fire danger restrictions when used as their makers intend; the City of Spokane's 2026 order lists outdoor fireplaces alongside barbecues and patio heaters. A masonry fireplace built on site is not a manufactured unit, so how it's treated during a restriction is a question for the fire marshal's office before it's built. Either way, a wood-burning fireplace outdoors is still off-limits during an air-quality restriction.
Placing a fire feature
Most of the design work happens on the site plan, before any stone is set.
- Draw the circle. For wood, 25 feet in every direction is a 50-foot circle. On a narrow lot with fences on both sides it may not fit, and that is the time to choose gas or a chimneyed unit rather than squeeze a wood pit in.
- Look up. Overhanging branches are combustible material too, so they are cleared or the fire moves.
- Surround it with stone. A fire pit sits on and within noncombustible material, such as pavers, stone or gravel, with seating set back from the flames. That usually means designing the fire pit and the patio together.
- Put water within reach. A garden hose counts as extinguishing equipment, so a hose bib near the fire area is worth planning in.
- Keep firewood away from the house. NFPA's Firewise checklist notes that embers can lodge and smolder in woodpiles and wants the first five feet around a house kept free of anything that burns, so the wood rack goes out in the yard, not against the siding.
- Think about smoke. Place a wood fire where smoke won't drift straight into your windows or the neighbors'. A fire that bothers them has to go out, whatever the distance.
Our Mead project shows one way to fit a wood fire into a larger yard: a wood-burning fireplace on its own patio, alongside a multi-tier water feature.
If you're planning a fire pit or outdoor fireplace, our Spokane office can look at the lot with you, check the distances on site and design around the fuel that suits how you'll use it. The first visit, an on-site consultation, is free. Call (509) 352-3433.
