8 county-level rules, plus city-specific rules for 2 cities in Lee County, Florida.
Verified from official government sources
Lee County allows backyard fire rings and recreational fire pits burning clean wood, subject to Florida Forest Service setbacks. When the county enacts a drought burn ban, campfires, bonfires and open outdoor fires are prohibited, though gas/charcoal food grills stay allowed.
Lee County burn ban (State of Local Emergency)
The county's ordinance bans "outdoor burning ignition sources," including campfires, bonfires and trash burning. Grills for food are not included. ... For the county to enact a burn ban, certain conditions must be met, including a Keetch-Byram Drought Index (KBDI) that reached or exceeds a value of 600.
In Lee County, Florida law lets you use consumer fireworks only on New Year's Day, July 4, and New Year's Eve. On any other day, using them is unlawful statewide. Local rules and HOA covenants may add limits, but cannot ban holiday use.
FS 791.08
791.08 Use during designated holidays; exemption.- (1) As used in this section, the term "designated holiday" means: (a) New Year's Day, January 1; (b) Independence Day, July 4; or (c) New Year's Eve, December 31. (2) This chapter does not prohibit the use of fireworks solely and exclusively during a designated holiday.
Lee County does not impose a fixed defensible-space or brush-clearance distance on private homeowners the way western wildfire states do. Clearing is voluntary and follows Florida Forest Service "Firewise"/Ready-Set-Go guidance, though the county may abate genuinely overgrown, hazardous lots.
You may burn yard waste in Lee County without a Florida Forest Service authorization if the pile fits an 8-foot diameter, is your own vegetative debris, and is lit after 9 a.m. and out one hour before sunset. Larger piles and land-clearing need authorization.
FL Forest Service open-burning rule (FS 590.125)
You may burn yard waste without authorization as long as: You meet the required setbacks and no local, city, or county ordinances prohibit burning, The yard waste was generated on your property and it will fit in an 8-foot diameter pile or non-combustible container, and The fire is ignited after 9 a.m. eastern time ... and is extinguished one hour before sunset.
Lee County has no adopted wildfire-hazard overlay zone that imposes special building or vegetation rules on homeowners. Wildfire risk in the wildland-urban interface (Lehigh Acres, coastal pine flatwoods) is managed through Florida Forest Service programs and drought-triggered countywide burn bans.
Florida law (FS 553.883), enforced through the Florida Building Code in Lee County, requires smoke alarms in homes. Any newly installed or replacement battery-powered smoke alarm must use a nonremovable, nonreplaceable 10-year battery.
FS 553.883
A battery-powered smoke alarm that is newly installed or replaces an existing battery-powered smoke alarm as a result of a level 1 alteration must be powered by a nonremovable, nonreplaceable battery that powers the alarm for at least 10 years.
Small recreational backyard fires (fire ring, chiminea, clean-wood campfire) are allowed in Lee County when no burn ban is in effect and Florida Forest Service safety rules are met. During a drought State of Local Emergency, all open backyard fires are banned; food grills remain exempt.
Lee County burn ban (State of Local Emergency)
The county's ordinance bans "outdoor burning ignition sources," including campfires, bonfires and trash burning. Grills for food are not included.
Lee County does not set its own residential propane-storage limits. Home LP-gas storage follows the Florida Fire Prevention Code, which adopts NFPA 58, and Florida's LP Gas program under the Department of Agriculture. Typical small grill and portable cylinders need no permit.
2 cities in Lee County have their own fire regulations rules. Each link goes to that city's dedicated page with code citations.
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