How far should firewood be stored from the house?

Store the main woodpile 30 ft (9.1 m) from the house. The Colorado State Forest Service (CSFS) gives that figure to keep a pile from setting a house alight in a wildfire, and Nebraska Extension gives the same figure to keep mice and rats out. Never keep firewood within 5 ft (1.5 m) of the walls, because that band is the non-combustible zone in the guidance of the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) and in CSFS Zone 1. Keep one or two days' wood near the door, and keep even that 5 ft out. Purdue Extension's 3 ft (0.9 m) is a minimum for insects and drying, not for fire, and the 20 ft figure on many pages has no source behind it. The rest of the yard is in outdoor room dimensions.

What counts as the woodpile, and where 30 ft is measured from#

Two piles are in play, and the rules treat them differently, so it helps to name them.

• The main woodpile is the season's supply, which Nebraska calls "the bulk of your firewood". The 30 ft applies to it.
• The day supply is the small amount you keep handy. Nebraska puts it at "about the amount of wood you would use in one or two days", refilled from the main pile.

A woodshed is a woodpile with a roof. CSFS lists woodpiles and sheds among the "fuels" near a home, beside propane tanks. So this page gives a full woodshed the same 30 ft as an open stack. That is our reading, since the guide does not say it in those words.

The fire figures come from the idea of the home ignition zone. This is the house plus the ground around it, out to 100 ft (30 m) or more. NFPA says the concept came from Jack Cohen, a retired US Forest Service fire scientist, in the late 1990s. The zone is split into bands by distance, and the rules on what may sit in each band get stricter as you get closer to the walls.

Where you measure from matters. NFPA measures its first band from "the furthest attached exterior point of the home". California's draft rule measures from the outside of the wall, the roof, an attached deck, stairs or a pergola. So a deck counts as part of the house. We measure the CSFS 30 ft the same way, from the deck's outer edge, which is the strict reading and the one that matches the other two sources.

One more term. Embers are small burning pieces carried on the wind, which CSFS also calls firebrands. They can travel "more than a mile ahead" of a wildfire's front, the guide says.

Why 30 ft: embers, flames and radiant heat#

CSFS names three ways a wildfire sets a house alight, and each one explains part of the firewood rule.

1. Embers. These are "the most common source of home ignition during wildfires", in the guide's words. Flat surfaces "such as wooden decks" are at "greater risk" of catching from them.
2. Direct flame contact. If fuel sits against the house, its flames reach the wall, and the guide says keeping fuels out of the first 5 ft, "particularly near windows or under decks", greatly cuts this risk.
3. Radiant heat. This is the heat you feel on your hands at a campfire, and it can set a house alight from a distance. CSFS designs its 5 to 30 ft band to cut it.

At 30 ft, a woodpile sits outside both bands that CSFS uses against flame contact and radiant heat. If it burns, it burns in the zone the guide treats as the farthest from the house.

The three sources split the yard in nearly the same way, but note that their zone numbers do not match.

Nothing in the first 5 ft#

All three agree on the band closest to the house, though each words it in its own way.

NFPA calls the first 5 ft the immediate zone and defines it "as a non-combustible area", calling this "the most important zone to take immediate action on as it is the most vulnerable to embers". Its list of tasks says to "move any flammable material away from wall exteriors", and names "firewood piles" in that list. It adds: "Remove anything stored underneath decks or porches."

CSFS calls the same band Zone 1, and its rule is plain: "Do not store firewood or other combustible materials inside this zone." It also says: "Do not use space under decks for storage." The goal, in the guide's words, is to keep flames from "direct contact with the structure". Gravel, stone, concrete or bare earth are what it wants on the ground here.

California's draft rule has the shortest wording of the three: "No firewood shall be stored in Zone 0." Zone 0 is the first 5 ft, or up to the property line if that comes first.

So a stack against the wall breaks all three rules at once: it is fuel touching the house, in the band each source keeps bare.

Uphill, off the deck, and 10 ft of clear ground#

The CSFS checklist adds three rules about where the 30 ft pile goes.

Uphill or level. "Keep firewood stacked uphill from (or at the same elevation as) any structures." CSFS also notes that its spacing figures are minimums, and can be increased, "particularly on slopes".

Not between trees, under the deck or on it. "Do not stack firewood between remaining trees, underneath the deck or on the deck." The guide explains the deck rule elsewhere: embers "can also fall through decks and may easily ignite flammable materials beneath", and those "can readily ignite the deck and threaten the home".

Clear ground around it. "Remove flammable vegetation within 10 feet of woodpiles." So the pile needs a ring of clear ground 10 ft (3 m) wide, and a stack 8 ft long and 2 ft deep then needs a patch 28 x 22 ft (8.5 x 6.7 m). Plan the space before you pick the spot.

The same 10 ft ring keeps the pile away from a propane tank. The fire code wants combustible material kept 10 ft from a tank, as set out in how far a propane tank has to be from the house. And a wood fire pit needs 25 ft (7.6 m) to "combustible material", which includes the woodpile; see fire pit clearances.

The same 30 ft keeps mice and insects out#

Nebraska Extension reaches 30 ft without thinking about fire at all, because its concern is rodents. "Locating the bulk of your firewood at least 30 feet from your home reduces the potential for rodents to become a problem," it says.

The reason is shelter. A pile against the house lets mice and rats "search in perfect safety" for a way in, and they do not need much. "A mouse can squeeze through a hole 1/4 inch in diameter, and a rat needs only a ½-inch hole." Both can climb rough walls, so the gap need not be at ground level. Nebraska calls a spot "right next to the house" the worst place for firewood, and next worst a spot beside a dog pen, with its spilled food and water.

Insects ride in on the wood too, and Purdue's guide to insects in firewood lists wood-boring beetles, carpenter ants, termites and others. Most "pose no direct threat to the home", it says, but they become a nuisance when they warm up indoors and come out. Nebraska says insects stay dormant while the wood is below 50 °F (10 °C), so the best place for wood is outside in the cold until you burn it.

Purdue gives the one figure on this page that is not about fire or rodents: "A minimum of 3 feet between the firewood and building should be maintained." Its reasons are moisture and insects, and it adds that the gap "allows better air circulation", which helps the wood dry. Stacking "off the ground whenever possible" helps too.

Both services want the wood covered, and Nebraska suggests "a woodshed, unheated garage, utility building or under a sheet of plastic or sheet metal roofing", with "an air space between the wood and covering". If you build a woodshed, the permit limits are in how big a shed can be without a permit.

3 ft, 20 ft or 30 ft: which figure is right#

Three numbers circulate, and they answer different questions. Only one of them answers the question most people are asking.

30 ft is right for the main pile. Two public agencies reach it for two separate reasons, one about fire and one about mice, so the same spot serves both.

3 ft is a floor, not an answer. Purdue sets it for insects and drying, and it says nothing about fire. A pile 3 ft from the wall is still in the band that NFPA and CSFS keep clear of all fuel.

20 ft has no source. We found it only on pages from pest-control and home-service firms and on blogs, and none of them names an agency or a document behind it. None of the agencies on this page gives it.

NFPA gives no 30 ft figure for firewood. Its 5 to 30 ft band deals with landscaping: lawns, trees and fuel breaks. A 30 ft firewood figure credited to NFPA can only be the outer edge of that band, not a firewood rule.

California's Zone 0: no firewood within 5 ft, not yet in force#

California is turning the 5 ft rule into law. A 2020 state law, AB 3074, told the Board of Forestry and Fire Protection to write rules for an ember-resistant zone, which the Board calls Zone 0: the first 5 ft around a building. The rules cover State Responsibility Areas, and Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zones in the areas cities and counties protect.

The draft text is in two sections of Title 14 of the California Code of Regulations: section 1298.04 for the local areas and section 1299.03 for State Responsibility Areas. Both say: "No firewood shall be stored in Zone 0." Section 1299.03 also covers the 5 to 30 ft band, which California calls Zone 1, where exposed firewood piles must be moved unless they are completely enclosed or covered in a fire-resistant material.

The status as of 14 November 2026:

1. 19 August 2026. The Board adopted the rules as emergency regulations, by an 8 to 0 vote.
2. 28 August. It sent them to the Office of Administrative Law (OAL), which has to approve and file a rule before it takes effect.
3. 8 September. The Board withdrew the package before OAL ruled. OAL's record for file 2026-0828-03E reads "Withdrawn, September 8, 2026", as the California Defensible Space Guide quotes it.
4. 5 November. The Board adopted a revised version. Sonoma Valley Fire District reports that the Board expects to send it to OAL "on or after November 13".

So no statewide Zone 0 rule is in force today. Legal alerts written in early September describe the first package as pending at OAL, which it was not after 8 September. Check the Board's page or OAL's record for the latest step.

Once the rules are filed, the timing splits: new buildings comply on the day they take effect, and existing homes get three years to move firewood out of Zone 0, in the Board's August text and in Sonoma Valley's summary of the November version. Some cities and fire districts have their own Zone 0 rules already, and those apply now, whatever happens at OAL.

Worked through: a woodpile behind a house with a deck#

Take a house with a wooden deck at the back that sticks out 8 ft (2.44 m) from the wall and is 16 ft (4.88 m) wide. The rear fence is 55 ft (16.8 m) from the wall, and the yard is level. Suppose the season's wood makes a stack 8 ft long and 2 ft deep. Walk it through the rules.

1. Find the measuring point. The deck is attached, so it counts as part of the house. Measure from its outer edge, not from the wall.
2. Place the main stack. 30 ft (9.1 m) from the deck edge puts the near face of the stack 38 ft (11.6 m) from the wall, and its far face at 40 ft.
3. Check the clear ring. CSFS wants no flammable plants within 10 ft of the pile. 40 + 10 = 50 ft, which is 5 ft short of the fence, so the ring stays inside the yard and you control all of it.
4. Check the slope. On level ground this passes. If the yard fell away from the house, the spot 38 ft out would sit below it. CSFS asks for uphill or level, so you would move the stack to a level spot to one side, still 30 ft from the deck and with its 10 ft ring clear.
5. Place the day rack. It goes at the foot of the deck steps, 5 ft (1.5 m) out from the deck's edge. That is outside the first 5 ft, where no firewood may sit, and more than Purdue's 3 ft.
6. Leave the deck clear. No logs on it, and none under it.

Which distance applies#

This table restates the rulings above, and each row names the source behind it.

Where these figures stop applying#

The 30 ft and 5 ft figures are guidance, not code, outside California: CSFS, NFPA, Nebraska and Purdue advise, but they do not enforce. Your city, county, fire district or insurer may set other rules, and those govern. Several California cities and fire districts already have Zone 0 rules of their own. The state rules described here are a draft until OAL files them, and the November text may differ in detail from the August text quoted above.

The fire figures were written for homes at risk from wildfire. Away from wildland, the rodent and insect reasons for 30 ft and 3 ft still apply. Where a lot is too small for 30 ft, none of these sources gives a smaller fire figure, so keep the pile as far out as the lot allows, never within 5 ft. California's draft offers one written alternative for its 5 to 30 ft band: a pile completely enclosed or covered in fire-resistant material.

This page does not cover wood stored inside the house or an attached garage, nor the clearances around a wood stove or fireplace indoors. A fireplace's hearth figures are in fireplace and media wall dimensions. It does not cover moving firewood. Purdue recommends it be "used on site", because moving firewood helped spread the emerald ash borer into Indiana. Nor does it cover how long wood takes to dry.

Other fuels near the house have their own distances. A grill's are in how far a grill should be from the house, and the rules for decks themselves are in deck sizes and railing heights. Metric figures here are conversions, as imperial and metric dimension systems explains; check your own with the unit converter. Terms such as combustible are defined in the glossary, and the sources this site uses are listed under standards and codes.