8 rules for unincorporated Santa Rosa County, Florida.
Verified from official government sources
A recreational fire or backyard fire pit is allowed under the Florida Fire Prevention Code. Fires must stay under 3 feet across, use only clean wood, and sit at least 25 feet from any structure unless contained in an approved chiminea or outdoor fireplace.
FAC 5I-2.006(11)
Recreational burning includes the legal open burning of vegetative debris and untreated wood in a campfire, outdoor fireplace, or other contained outdoor heating or cooking device.
Under Florida law, consumer fireworks are legal statewide on New Year's Day, July 4, and New Year's Eve. Santa Rosa County cannot ban them on those three days. On all other days, only sparklers and novelties are permitted.
FS 791.08
This chapter does not prohibit the use of fireworks solely and exclusively during a designated holiday. 'Designated holiday' means New Year's Day, January 1; Independence Day, July 4; or New Year's Eve, December 31.
Santa Rosa County's coastal-panhandle pine and wildland-urban interface make brush clearance important, but Florida sets no statewide defensible-space mandate. The county enforces overgrown-lot and nuisance rules; the Florida Forest Service recommends Firewise defensible space around homes.
The Florida Forest Service governs outdoor burning. You may burn yard waste like leaves and limbs without authorization if setbacks are met, but piles over 8 feet across need a Forest Service authorization. Never burn during a county burn ban.
FAC 5I-2.006(4)(d)1
Residential, and Agricultural/Silvicultural pile burning must be set back three hundred (300') feet or more away from any occupied building other than that of the landowner and fifty (50') feet from any wildlands, brush or combustible structure.
Santa Rosa County is a fire-prone coastal panhandle county surrounded by pine forest and Blackwater River State Forest. There is no formal state wildfire-hazard zoning like California's, but the Florida Forest Service manages wildfire response and issues burn bans during dry conditions.
Smoke alarms are required by the Florida Building Code and Florida Fire Prevention Code, which Santa Rosa County enforces through its building and fire-life-safety division. New and substantially renovated homes need interconnected, hardwired alarms with battery backup in every bedroom and on each level.
Small backyard campfires of clean wood are allowed with no permit when setbacks are met and no burn ban is in effect. During a Santa Rosa County burn ban, all open fires are prohibited except barbecue-grill cooking and Forest Service permitted burns.
Santa Rosa County BOCC Burn Ban Resolution
No open fires of any types, including camp fires, bonfires, yard and trash burning, etc. Exemptions include cooking on barbeque grills or any other burn authorized by the Florida Forest Service.
Home propane storage is governed by the Florida Fire Prevention Code, which adopts NFPA 58 (Liquefied Petroleum Gas Code). Santa Rosa County enforces it through Fire & Life Safety. Small barbecue cylinders are exempt, but larger tanks require clearances and, above set sizes, permits.
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