Fire Pit Firewood in Washington and Oregon: What You Can Burn, Buy and Move

Not legal or electrical advice. This guide summarizes published manuals, codes and agency pages as of the date above. Rules change and vary by jurisdiction. Confirm your plans with a licensed electrician or contractor and your local building department before you buy or install.

Key facts

Washington, new in 2026: untreated firewood from outside Washington may not be brought in for sale or use (WAC 16-476-001, effective August 18, 2026). Treated wood needs a 160 °F core for 60 minutes plus a source label and "Approved Pest Free", or USDA-certified packaging.
Why now: WSDA and USDA confirmed Washington's first emerald ash borer in Vancouver on August 19, 2026. The beetle has been in Oregon since Forest Grove in June 2022.
Oregon: no untreated firewood from outside the Pacific Northwest (Oregon, Washington, Idaho). Inside Oregon, hardwood firewood may not leave the five-county emerald ash borer control area for the rest of the state, with limited exceptions.
What burns legally: dry, bare, untreated wood, charcoal and (Puget Sound area) manufactured firelogs. Pallets, painted or treated wood, cardboard and trash are out in both states.
How dry: under 20 percent moisture; about a year covered and dry in the Northwest (Puget Sound Clean Air Agency).
How it is sold: by the cord (128 cubic feet) or a fraction of one. "Face cord," "rack," "pile" and "truckload" are not legal units.

What you are allowed to burn

Area	Allowed fuel	Named as prohibited	Size limit
Washington statewide (WAC 173-425-050, Ecology)	Dry, seasoned firewood; briquettes or propane for barbecues	Garbage, dead animals, asphalt, petroleum products, paints, rubber, plastics, cardboard, paper beyond fire starting, treated wood, construction or demolition debris, metal	Campfires no bigger than 3 x 3 x 2 ft (Ecology)
King, Kitsap, Pierce and Snohomish counties (Puget Sound Clean Air Agency)	Charcoal, dried firewood or manufactured firelogs; "It is illegal to burn anything else"	Everything else	3 ft diameter, 2 ft high
Portland (PF&R FIR 3.08, 09/26)	Clean, dry, untreated natural firewood or other fuel permitted by law	Garbage, rubbish, pallets, construction or demolition debris, treated or painted wood, plastics, furniture, mattresses	3 ft diameter, 2 ft high, 25 ft from structures for an open recreational fire

Two details trip people up. First, the Puget Sound rule lists manufactured firelogs as allowed, and Washington's quarantine exempts compressed wood bricks and pellets, so a store-bought firelog is often the simplest legal fuel on a damp night. Second, "untreated" rules out more than you might think: Solo Stove's own list of what not to burn includes pallets, painted or stained wood, driftwood, construction scraps and particleboard, and it warns that lighter fluid can tarnish stainless steel.

Everything on this page assumes no burn ban is in effect. During an air quality or fire safety ban, the fuel question is moot for wood. See our Washington burn ban guide and Oregon burn restrictions guide.

Moving firewood: the 2026 rules by trip

Trip	Untreated softwood (Douglas fir, cedar)	Untreated hardwood (oak, maple, alder, ash)	Rule
Portland to Vancouver or Seattle	Not allowed	Not allowed	WAC 16-476-001: no untreated firewood into Washington from outside the state
Out-of-state kiln-dried bag shipped to a Washington home	Allowed only if labeled with its source and "Approved Pest Free" (160 °F core, 60 minutes), or USDA-certified with producer name and address		WAC 16-476-003
Seattle to Spokane (within Washington)	Not covered by the exterior quarantine, which does not apply to firewood harvested and remaining in Washington. State agencies still urge buying where you burn.		WAC 16-476-001
Portland to Salem or McMinnville (inside the control area)	Allowed	Allowed	OAR 603-052-1075 (5)(a): movement within the control area is unrestricted
Portland to Bend or the coast (out of the control area)	Allowed (conifer firewood is not a covered commodity), unless it is ash	Not allowed without an ODA compliance agreement, or the dormant period exception (October 16 to April 30, processed by the receiver to state standards)	OAR 603-052-1075
Idaho or Washington to Oregon	Untreated Pacific Northwest firewood may come in; firewood from outside the Pacific Northwest must be heat treated to a 140 °F core for 60 minutes		OAR 603-052-1080

Oregon's penalty schedule treats importing non-compliant firewood for personal use as a minor violation: a notice the first time, then $100 and $300 (OAR 603-052-1090). The Oregon Department of Agriculture's own rule of thumb is that 50 miles is too far to move firewood and 10 miles or less is best.

Note what is not on the hardwood list in Oregon: the control area's firewood clause covers "any non-coniferous (hardwood) species," so alder, maple, oak and fruitwood all count, not just ash. Ash, white fringe tree and olive wood are restricted in every form, including chips and branches.

Buying firewood: is it really a cord?

Washington and Oregon both use the national definition: a cord is 128 cubic feet of wood "ranked and well stowed," meaning pieces in a row, touching, parallel and stacked compactly. Picture 4 ft high by 4 ft deep by 8 ft long. Crisscross or log cabin stacks look neat but hold less wood than the legal measure assumes.

Get a receipt or delivery ticket with the seller's and buyer's names and addresses, date, quantity delivered, quantity the price is based on, price, and the type and quality of wood. Both states' agriculture departments list these items.
Stack and measure before you burn any. Length times height times depth, in feet. If it comes up short, call the seller first. In Washington, contact WSDA Weights and Measures; in Oregon, ODA says firewood complaints now go to the Oregon Department of Justice.
Walk away from "face cord," "rack," "pile" or "truckload" pricing. None of them is a legal unit in either state.
Read the cubic feet on bundles. Packages under one eighth of a cord (16 cubic feet) must show their volume in cubic feet.

Worked example: bundles vs a cord

Illustrative prices, not quotes. Say a grocery store bundle is labeled 0.75 cubic feet and sells for $8. One cord is 128 cubic feet, so a cord's worth of bundles is 128 / 0.75 = about 171 bundles, or about $1,365. If a local seller quotes $450 for a stacked, delivered cord of seasoned wood, the bundles cost about three times as much per cubic foot. A fire pit that burns two bundles a night, twice a week, uses about 3 cubic feet a week, so a half cord (64 cubic feet) lasts about 21 weeks. Swap in the volume and price on your own labels.

Dry enough? The 20 percent test

The Puget Sound Clean Air Agency says to burn only seasoned cordwood with less than 20 percent moisture, and that in the Northwest climate it takes about a year of being covered and kept dry. Solo Stove says to use kiln-dried or well-seasoned wood, and that wood you cut yourself should dry for at least 6 months to a year. Wet wood is not just a smoke problem: Washington makes it unlawful for outdoor burning to cause a nuisance to neighbors (WAC 173-425-050(4)), and the Puget Sound agency says that if your smoke bothers a neighbor, you must put the fire out immediately.

A pin-type moisture meter is the easy check. A common practice is to split a piece and read the fresh inner face, since the outside dries first.
Signs of wet wood: it hisses, steams or refuses to catch (Solo Stove names hissing and failing to catch).
Store it off the ground and covered, but let air reach the sides. A tarp wrapped to the ground traps the Northwest's rain and humidity.
Smokeless fire pits still need dry wood. Their secondary burn depends on hot, well-aerated fires, and wet wood defeats that.

Which wood for a Northwest fire pit?

Solo Stove's regional guide calls the Pacific Northwest softwood-heavy, naming Douglas fir, cedar and alder, with alder a clean-burning option and Douglas fir the workhorse. Its general advice is that dense hardwoods like oak and hickory burn longest, while dried softwoods are fine for shorter fires and burn faster and cooler. For the rules above, the useful split is different: conifers like Douglas fir move more freely inside Oregon, and anything you carry across the Washington line must be treated and labeled, whatever the species.

Checklist before you light it

Is a burn ban in effect today? Check your clean air agency and fire department.
Is the wood dry (under 20 percent), bare and untreated? No pallets, painted boards, cardboard or trash.
Did the wood cross the Washington line, or leave the Oregon control area? If so, is it labeled "Approved Pest Free" or USDA certified?
Do you have the receipt for a bulk purchase, and did the stack measure out?
Is your fire within the 3 ft by 2 ft recreational fire size, attended, with water at hand?

Sources

Rules and quotes as published by each agency or maker and checked on October 23, 2026. Quarantine boundaries change when new infestations are found, so check WSDA and ODA before a long trip with wood. Prices in the worked example are illustrative, not quotes.

Related guides

Frequently asked questions

Can I bring firewood from Oregon into Washington?

Not untreated firewood. Washington's exterior firewood quarantine (WAC 16-476), in effect since August 18, 2026, says no one may bring untreated firewood into the state for sale or use from any location outside Washington, and that includes Oregon. Firewood from outside the state must be heat treated to a 160 °F core temperature for at least 60 minutes and labeled with its source and the words "Approved Pest Free", or be USDA-certified packaged firewood labeled with the producer's name and address. Air drying does not count. Compressed wood bricks and pellets are outside the rule.

Can I take firewood from Portland to a cabin in Central Oregon?

Softwood, yes. Hardwood, generally no. Oregon's emerald ash borer control area (OAR 603-052-1075) covers Washington, Yamhill, Marion, Clackamas and Multnomah counties, and it bars moving firewood of any non-coniferous (hardwood) species out of the control area to the rest of Oregon. The exceptions are a compliance agreement with the Oregon Department of Agriculture, or moving it during the beetle's dormant period, October 16 to April 30, when the receiver processes it to state standards. Douglas fir and other conifers are not covered by the firewood part of the rule, though ash, white fringe tree and olive wood of any kind are.

What can I legally burn in a backyard fire pit in Washington?

Dry, seasoned, untreated firewood, charcoal, and in the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency area (King, Kitsap, Pierce and Snohomish counties) manufactured firelogs. Statewide, WAC 173-425-050 bans burning garbage, plastics, rubber, paint, petroleum products, cardboard, paper beyond what you need to start the fire, treated wood, construction or demolition debris and metal in any outdoor fire. The Puget Sound agency puts it plainly: it is illegal to burn anything else.

Can I burn pallets in my fire pit in Portland?

No. Portland Fire & Rescue's outdoor burning rule (FIR 3.08, revised September 2026) says recreational fires may burn only clean, dry, untreated natural firewood or other fuel permitted by law, and lists pallets, construction or demolition debris, treated or painted wood, plastics, furniture and mattresses as prohibited.

How dry should fire pit wood be?

Under 20 percent moisture. The Puget Sound Clean Air Agency says to burn only dry, seasoned cordwood with less than 20 percent moisture, and that in the Northwest climate cordwood must be kept covered and dry for a year to season properly. Solo Stove recommends kiln-dried or well-seasoned wood and says firewood you cut yourself should dry at least 6 months to a year.

Is a face cord a legal unit in Washington or Oregon?

No. In both states loose firewood must be sold by the cord (128 cubic feet, ranked and well stowed) or a fraction of a cord. Terms like face cord, rack, pile and truckload have no legal definition, and Washington's Department of Agriculture says sellers may not use them. Small packages, under one eighth of a cord (16 cubic feet), are sold by cubic feet.

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Fire pit firewood in Washington and Oregon: what you can burn, buy and move