Small recreational and cooking fires are allowed statewide as a TCEQ exception to the burning prohibition. Unincorporated Lubbock County permits attended backyard fires when no burn ban is active. In the City of Lubbock, the adopted fire code allows portable outdoor fireplaces but requires them 15 feet from structures.
TCEQ's outdoor-burning rule exempts fires for recreational, ceremonial, or noncommercial cooking, or for warmth, so backyard recreational fires are generally allowed if they do not create a nuisance or traffic hazard. In unincorporated Lubbock County, an attended recreational fire is permitted when no commissioners-court burn ban is in effect and it is not a Red Flag day. Inside the City of Lubbock, the 2021 International Fire Code (city code art. 10.03) governs: recreational fires must be 25 feet from structures (307.4.2) and portable outdoor fireplaces at least 15 feet (307.4.3). All fires must be constantly attended until fully extinguished, with water or an extinguisher on hand.
An unattended or escaped backyard fire, or burning during a ban, can bring county or city fire-code citations and full liability for suppression costs and damage.
Other ordinances people look up for this city. Green dot = verified primary-source excerpt.
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See how Lubbock County's backyard fires rules stack up against other locations.
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