Fire Regulations in Lake County, CA (2026)
6 rules for unincorporated Lake County, California.
Verified from official government sources
Fire Pits & Backyard Fires
Lake County's seasonal open burning ban does not cover recreational fires or fires used solely to cook food for people. Sec. 22-3 carves that exemption out of the same rule that otherwise requires a burning permit for brush, debris and waste fires, so a backyard fire pit or campfire used for warmth or cooking does not need a county burning permit.
Lake County Recreational Fire Exemption
Light RestrictionsLake County Code § 22-3
This prohibition shall not apply to recreational fires or fires for the sole purpose of cooking food for human beings. This authority applies to all lands of Lake County excepting those federal lands administered and protected by the United States Forest Service.
Fireworks
Unincorporated Lake County bans possessing, storing, selling or setting off any fireworks outright, with narrow carve-outs for licensed storage, manufacturing/testing, and permitted public displays. A violation is chargeable as an infraction or a misdemeanor, and a parent who lets a minor set off fireworks faces the same penalty.
Lake County Fireworks Ban and Exceptions
Heavy RestrictionsLake County Code § 5-4F.2(b)
4F.2(b)1 Prohibition. The possession, manufacture, storage, sale, handling, exploding, and use of fireworks, as defined in Section 5.3(k) herein, are prohibited except for the following: (1) The storage and handling of fireworks as allowed in Section 5604 of the California Fire Code. (2) Manufacture, assembly and testing of fireworks as allowed in Section 5605 and Health and Safety Code. (3) Th...
Brush Clearance
Lake County requires every owner and occupant of unincorporated land to clear hazardous vegetation and combustible material from parcels, roadways and parkways, or face abatement and fines up to $500 per day. The County Fire Official enforces the Hazardous Vegetation/Combustible Material Abatement Ordinance countywide.
Lake County Brush Clearance Ordinance
Significant RestrictionsLake County Code § 13-60(60.1)
60.1 Upon receipt of a notice of violation and order to abate, as discussed in Section 13-62 herein, it shall be the duty of every owner, occupant, and person in control of any improved or unimproved parcel of land or interest therein, which is located in the unincorporated territory of the County of Lake to abate there from, and from all parcels, roadways and parkways, except for those roads m...
Outdoor Burning
Lake County bans burning brush, stumps, slash and other flammable debris anywhere in the unincorporated county from May 1 until CAL FIRE's Director proclaims the year's fire hazard abated, unless a fire chief or fire protection district has issued a burning permit. Nonagricultural waste burning in open fires or dooryard incinerators is barred from June 1 through the same proclamation date, and the Board of Supervisors can suspend all outdoor burning at any time.
Lake County Open Burning Ban
Significant RestrictionsLake County Code § 22-3
It shall be unlawful for any person to burn or cause to be burned any brush, stumps, logs, fallen timber, fallows, slash or grass, brush or forest covered lands, or any other flammable material within the County of Lake...between the first of May and the date the Director or the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection declares, by proclamation, that the hazardous conditions have a...
Wildfire Zones
CAL FIRE has mapped Lake County into Moderate, High and Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zones under Sec. 22-2, with the maps on file and open to public inspection at the County Clerk's office. Lake County has also adopted the 2021 International Wildland-Urban Interface Code by reference under Sec. 5-4M, layering construction standards for wildfire-prone areas onto whatever zone a parcel falls in.
Lake County Fire Hazard Severity Zones
Some RestrictionsLake County Code § 22-2
The CAL FIRE has caused to be prepared a map of the County of Lake, a map of the City of Lakeport, and a map of the city of Clearlake which specify by readily identified boundaries Fire Hazard Severity Zones; classifying these zones into "Moderate," "High," and "Very High" fire hazard regions. These maps shall be kept at the office of the County Clerk of the County of Lake and shall be availabl...
Propane Storage
Lake County requires every liquefied petroleum gas installation in the unincorporated area to meet NFPA Standard 58, the national safety code for LP-gas storage and handling. The rule sits in the same building-regulations chapter that governs fuel oil tanks and applies on top of the adopted California Fire and Building Codes.
Lake County LP-Gas Storage Standard
Some RestrictionsLake County Code § 5-6.17
6.1.7 [6.17] All liquefied petroleum gas installations shall comply with the National Fire Protection Agency (NFPA) Standard 58 for the storage and handling of LP Gas.
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