8 county-level rules, plus city-specific rules for 1 city in Weld County, Colorado.
Verified from official government sources
A recreational cooking fire in a contained fireplace, a manufactured portable fire pit or a chiminea needs no open-burn permit in unincorporated Weld County. Fires must stay attended, and all recreational fires are prohibited when a fire ban is in effect.
Weld County Open Burning Conditions
A permit is not required for a recreational cooking fire, which must be contained within an outside fireplace; manufactured, portable outdoor fire pit; or in a chiminea.
Only non-aerial, non-explosive "permissible fireworks" are legal in Colorado. Aerial devices, firecrackers, Roman candles and mortars are illegal statewide. Weld County and its towns may ban even permissible fireworks during fire restrictions, which are common on the dry high plains.
C.R.S. 12-28-101(8)
"Permissible fireworks" do not include aerial devices or audible ground devices, including, but not limited to, firecrackers.
Weld County has no wildfire defensible-space clearance mandate for the high plains. What state law does require is weed control: under the Colorado Noxious Weed Act every landowner must manage noxious weeds that could damage neighboring land.
C.R.S. 35-5.5-104(1)
It is the duty of all persons to use integrated methods to manage noxious weeds if the same are likely to be materially damaging to the land of neighboring landowners.
Open burning in unincorporated Weld County requires a free permit from the Department of Public Health and Environment. Burning is limited to daytime hours, must stay attended, and is banned when winds exceed five mph or on Red Air Alert days.
Weld County Open Burning Conditions (Reg. 9, 5 CCR 1001-11)
Burning can begin two hours after sunrise, and must be completed no later than two hours before sunset... Burning is not permitted when local wind speed exceeds five miles per hour, and all open burning needs to be attended by an adult.
Weld County does not maintain formal wildland-urban-interface hazard zones or defensible-space rules for its high-plains and farmland areas. Wildfire and grassfire danger is managed instead through temporary fire restrictions and burn bans ordered by the Sheriff and county commissioners.
Smoke alarms are required by the building code Weld County adopts (2018 International Residential Code). Colorado law separately requires a carbon-monoxide alarm within fifteen feet of every sleeping room when a home with fuel appliances or an attached garage is sold or rented.
C.R.S. 38-45-102(1)(a)
The seller of each existing single-family dwelling offered for sale or transfer on or after July 1, 2009, that has a fuel-fired heater or appliance, a fireplace, or an attached garage shall assure that an operational carbon monoxide alarm is installed within fifteen feet of the entrance to each room lawfully used for sleeping purposes.
A contained recreational cooking fire needs no permit, but a true backyard bonfire does. Weld County Public Health allows only one bonfire per year per address, permitted only for the day of the event, and never during a fire ban.
Weld County follows the adopted International Fire Code and NFPA 58 for LP-gas tanks. Its design criteria specify that propane containers installed in hazard areas must sit within the defensible space required by the International Fire Code, with proper clearances from structures and ignition sources.
Weld County Design Criteria (adopted IFC)
Liquid propane gas containers and tanks installed in hazard areas shall be located within the defensible space in accordance with the International Fire Code.
1 cities in Weld County have their own fire regulations rules. Each link goes to that city's dedicated page with code citations.
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