CONTACT:    Joshua Cummings, Fire Marshal and Community Planning and Economic Development Department Director, (360) 754-4995 or joshua.cummings@co.thurston.wa.us  

OLYMPIA – The Thurston County Fire Marshal, in consultation with the Thurston County Director of Emergency Services, Department of Natural Resources, and the Olympic Region Clean Air Agency (ORCAA), determined weather conditions within the county meet the fire danger level necessary to enact restrictions on outdoor burning to all lands regulated by Thurston County.

The Fire Safety Burn Ban applies to residential yard waste burning and all land clearing burns. The restrictions on outdoor burning during the summer have resulted in a significant drop in brush fires and property damage each of the past several years, according to fire officials.

“The fire safety burn ban is enacted when weather and fire fuel conditions reach a level of danger that may pose a threat to people and their property,” said Fire Marshal, Joshua Cummings. “The Department of Natural Resources has moved their fire risk on public lands in our region to ‘moderate’ which triggers the county’s process to enact the fire safety ban to minimize the threat of fires as much as possible through the restriction of residential and land clearing burns.” 

At this time, recreational fires are allowed on private residential properties and in established fire rings within official county, state, and federal campgrounds. Recreational fires must be contained in approved concrete, stone or metal pits like those commonly found in campgrounds. The use of charcoal briquettes, gas, and propane barbeques will continue to be allowed under the burn ban. 

The Thurston County Outdoor Burn Ban is effective as of 8 a.m., Wednesday, July 5, 2023, and ending Friday, September 29, 2023. More information about burn bans is available at https://www.thurstoncountywa.gov/departments/board-county-commissioners/burn-ban-information. 

To stay up-to-date on the status of burn bans, please visit for the ORCAA website at www.orcaa.org. 

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