Washington Administrative Code
Title 332 - Natural Resources, Board and Department of (See also Title 222)
Chapter 332-24 - Forest protection
FIRE PROTECTION REGULATIONS
Section 332-24-405 - Spark emitting equipment requirements

(1) Fixed-position machine:

(2) Logging railroad locomotive or common carrier locomotive:

(3) Passenger vehicle used for industrial or commercial operations:

(4) Portable power saw:

(5) Spark-emitting engines used for purposes not specifically mentioned herein, which, in the opinion of the department, may cause a forest fire to start, unless equipped with:

(6) Tractor or mobile machine:

(7) Truck or vehicle used for hauling:

(8) During yarding, loading, milling, land clearing and right of way clearing, there must be kept at each landing, yarding tree, mill or other suitable place designated by the department, two serviceable five gallon backpack pump cans filled with water; however such operations in other areas of the state as may be designated by the department, in writing, must comply with the following additional requirements:

(9) Balloon, skyline and other similar long-line or aerial logging systems with greater than a twelve hundred foot distance between the yarder and tailhold or tailblock unless complying with the following requirements:

(10) Each helicopter used for yarding, loading and land clearing or slash burning unless equipped and complying with the following:

(11) Railroad track installation and maintenance:

(12) Prior to beginning operations, all snags, stubs and dead trees over fifteen feet in height shall be cut within fifty feet of each fixed-position machine which will operate for two consecutive days or more in one position.

The ground shall be initially cleared of all flammable debris under four inches in diameter beneath and within ten feet of each fixed-position machine which will operate for two consecutive days or more in one position.

(13) The area around the tail, corner and haul back blocks must be kept clean of all flammable debris under four inches in diameter for a distance of six feet in all directions. Suitable flame-resistant blanket devices may be substituted for the clearing requirement when the six foot diameter area is covered. Each block must be equipped with one serviceable five gallon backpack pump can filled with water, one shovel and one pulaski. Operations with multiple blocks must have this complement of tools and water within one hundred feet of each block.

(14) It shall be the operator's responsibility to identify points of line rub on cable logging operations during the closed season. If line rub occurs, the operator shall do what is necessary to stop, alleviate or control the line rub in order to prevent fires at these points. Satisfactory means include, but are not limited to:

(15) The department may designate certain areas which are known to have rapid fluctuations of extreme fire weather and/or concentrations of additional hazards. Operators in such areas may be required to monitor the humidity and/or wind speed and maintain a daily log of such readings. Relative humidity readings and wind speed must be determined and recorded by instruments and methods approved by the department.

The department may further require the operator in such areas to restrict operations when, in the opinion of the department, the recorded readings or current conditions are such that if a fire starts in that area it would probably spread to conflagration proportions regardless of personnel and equipment available for initial fire suppression.