8 county-level rules, plus city-specific rules for 1 city in Orleans Parish, Louisiana.
Verified from official government sources
New Orleans has no separate backyard fire-pit permit for a small contained recreational fire, but any open fire on public or private ground requires a Fire Department operational permit. Keep flames small, attended, away from structures, and never burn trash or yard waste.
New Orleans Fire Prevention Code — Bonfire/Open Fire operational permit
An operational permit is required for the kindling or maintaining of an open fire or a fire on any public street, alley, road, or other public or private ground.
No. In New Orleans / Orleans Parish it is unlawful to possess, sell, offer for sale, or discharge any fireworks. Only professional displays authorized in writing by the mayor are allowed. Consumer fireworks legal elsewhere in Louisiana are banned inside the city.
New Orleans City Code, Ch. 54 (Criminal Code) — fireworks prohibition
It is unlawful for any person to possess, sell, or offer for sale or use within the municipality any pyrotechnics commonly known as fireworks. It is unlawful for any person to explode a firecracker or fireworks of any kind within the city, except pyrotechnic displays authorized in writing by the mayor.
New Orleans has no California-style wildfire defensible-space brush-clearance rule. Overgrown lots are handled as a property-maintenance and blight issue: owners must cut tall grass and clear noxious growth, and the city can abate and lien uncut lots rather than order fuel-break clearing.
Open outdoor burning in New Orleans requires a Fire Department operational permit ($75/day). Louisiana bans burning household trash, and the state's residential leaf-burning exception does not apply to Orleans Parish because it has more than 300,000 residents. Burning waste is effectively prohibited.
LAC 33:III.1109 (Control of Air Pollution from Outdoor Burning)
No person shall cause or allow the outdoor burning of waste material or other combustible material on any property owned by him or under his control except as provided in Subsections C and D of this Section.
New Orleans is not in a designated wildfire hazard or wildland-urban-interface zone. The city's flat, humid, low-lying coastal geography means there are no wildfire mapping or defensible-space requirements. The dominant natural hazards here are flooding and hurricanes, not wildfire.
Under Louisiana law, every one- or two-family dwelling sold or leased must have at least an operable ten-year sealed-lithium-battery smoke detector, plus a carbon monoxide detector. New Orleans enforces smoke-alarm standards through the state law and the adopted building/residential codes.
A small contained backyard recreational fire burning clean wood is generally tolerated, but any real open fire requires a Fire Department operational permit. You may never burn leaves, yard waste or trash, and fires must be attended and kept well away from structures.
LAC 33:III.1109(C) — residential yard-waste burning exception (does not cover Orleans Parish)
the burning of leaves, grass, twigs, branches, and vines by a private property owner on his own property for noncommercial purposes in parishes with a population of 300,000 or less, provided the property owner attends the burning of yard waste at all times.
New Orleans regulates propane through its adopted Fire Prevention Code (International Fire Code). Larger LP-gas storage needs a Fire Department operational permit, and multi-family residents cannot store or use LP-gas grills and cylinders on balconies or within 10 feet of the building.
1 cities in Orleans Parish have their own fire regulations rules. Each link goes to that city's dedicated page with code citations.
See every category we cover for Orleans Parish — parking, noise, fences, fires, animals, pools, and more.
Orleans Parish Ordinance Hub →