6 county-level rules, plus city-specific rules for 1 city in Minnehaha County, South Dakota.
Verified from official government sources
Minnehaha County has no standalone recreational fire-pit ordinance for unincorporated areas. Contained fires in fire pits, chimineas, and other containers are expressly excluded from the county's open-burn definition under MC34-04. Pits must be sufficient to prevent escape of burning material, sparks, flames, or hot ashes. When the County Commission declares a Fire Danger Emergency, recreational fires in containers remain permitted because they are not 'open burning.' Cities in Minnehaha County (Sioux Falls, Brandon, Hartford, Dell Rapids) each set their own fire-pit rules under municipal code.
Consumer (1.4G) fireworks are legal statewide under SDCL 34-37-5 during seasonal windows: June 27 through July 5 (summer) and December 28 through January 1 (winter). Minnehaha County exercises authority under SDCL 34-37-19 to restrict fireworks in unincorporated areas when the South Dakota Grassland Fire Danger Index reaches the Extreme category, with restrictions running June 20-July 2 (the county window automatically suspends if the index drops below Very High). The County Commission has historically passed seasonal resolutions banning fireworks when fire conditions warrant. Cities (Sioux Falls bans discharge inside city limits; Brandon and other cities have their own rules) are separately regulated.
Minnehaha County has no defensible-space wildfire-clearance ordinance (the county is prairie/grassland, not high-density wildland-urban-interface forest). Vegetation duties run through two frameworks: (1) the SDCL Chapter 38-22 noxious weed law enforced by the Minnehaha County Weed & Pest Board, which makes failure to control state- and county-declared noxious weeds a Class 2 misdemeanor; and (2) the county Public Nuisance ordinance (2004 Revised) under SDCL 21-10-1, used for tall-grass and overgrown-lot complaints. Within cities (Sioux Falls etc.) separate weed-height ordinances apply.
Minnehaha County Ordinance MC34-04 (Declaration of Fire Danger Emergency) authorizes the County Commission, by resolution, to prohibit all open burning in unincorporated areas when weather or other conditions make open burning hazardous. Open burning means intentional burning of any substance, but excludes contained fires (fireplaces, stoves, furnaces, and burning in a container sufficient to prevent escape of sparks/flames/ashes). The Commission issued burn bans in 2021, 2023, 2024, and March 2025. Violation is a Class 2 misdemeanor. Cities within the county are exempt from the county ban and set their own rules. SD DANR open-burning air-quality guidelines also apply statewide.
Minnehaha County is prairie/grassland (no forested wildland-urban-interface) and has no formal wildfire-hazard zone map. FEMA's National Risk Index rates the county Relatively Moderate for natural-hazard risk overall (90th percentile in South Dakota). Wildfire risk is managed through the NWS-issued South Dakota Grassland Fire Danger Index (5 levels: Low, Moderate, High, Very High, Extreme) and the SDCL 34-37-19 fireworks restriction trigger plus the MC34-04 Fire Danger Emergency burn-ban trigger. There are no defensible-space requirements, no Class A roofing mandates, and no WUI building-code overlays in the unincorporated county.
Propane storage in Minnehaha County is governed by state law, not a county ordinance. South Dakota has adopted the International Fire Code (IFC) - Chapter 61, Liquefied Petroleum Gases - which incorporates NFPA 58 (Liquefied Petroleum Gas Code) by reference. The Office of the State Fire Marshal (SD Department of Public Safety) licenses LP-gas dealers, transporters, resellers, and installers and enforces installation standards. The county's 2021 IBC/IRC/IEBC adoptions defer to the state fire code for LP-gas installations. Typical residential tank setbacks per NFPA 58 Table 6.4.1.1 apply (e.g., 10 feet from buildings for 125-500-gallon tanks).
1 cities in Minnehaha County have their own fire regulations rules. Each link goes to that city's dedicated page with code citations.
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