A small backyard recreational fire (cooking or ceremonial) is permit-exempt only if the device is 3 feet or less in diameter and 2 feet or less in height. Burning yard waste is heavily restricted: it requires a Fire Department permit, is limited to the Northern Zone, and is allowed only on permissive burn days in February, May, August, and November.
Backyard fires in unincorporated Santa Barbara County split into two regimes. First, small recreational fires for cooking or ceremonial purposes are exempt from a burn permit when the burning is in a device 3 feet or less in diameter and 2 feet or less in height and no rubbish is burned, per County Fire. Under the adopted California Fire Code, such a recreational fire must be kept at least 25 feet from any structure or combustible material (section 307.4.2) and constantly attended until extinguished (section 307.5). Second, burning actual backyard yard waste (leaves, weeds, grass clippings, shrubbery, tree prunings) is far more restricted: it is permitted only for homeowners at one- and two-family dwellings, only in the Northern Zone of the county (excluding Solvang, Santa Maria, and Lompoc), and only on permissive burn days in February, May, August, and November. All material must be adequately dried, the day must be a designated California Air Resources Board burn day, and conditions must be at a Low Fire Season Preparedness Level. Outdoor residential burning of trash or garbage is never allowed anywhere in the Air Pollution Control District. Given the extreme wildfire history of the foothills (the 2017 Thomas Fire and 2018 Montecito debris flow), backyard burning is suspended entirely during high fire danger and Red Flag conditions, so residents should always verify the daily burn-day status before lighting anything.
Burning backyard yard waste without a valid Fire Department permit, outside the Northern Zone, on a non-burn day, or outside the four permitted months can result in a citation and an order to extinguish. Burning household trash violates APCD open-burning rules. An unattended fire violates the adopted California Fire Code attendance requirement (section 307.5), and any escaped fire can bring misdemeanor charges and civil suppression-cost liability.
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