Open recreational backyard fires - campfires, chimineas burning wood, and bonfires on the ground - are effectively prohibited in New York City. FDNY Fire Code Section FC 307.1 bans kindling or maintaining any open fire except for listed exceptions, and the only backyard exception is a manufactured residential fire pit at a detached R1-R3 home (FC 307.7). The state cooking/campfire exception in 6 NYCRR 215.3 does not override the city's stricter open-fire prohibition.
FDNY Fire Code Section FC 307.1 states that kindling, building, maintaining or using an open fire is prohibited, with exceptions only for specified situations - portable outdoor barbecues, approved city-park fires, fire-brigade training, certain industrial salamanders, and residential fire pits under FC 307.7. There is no general allowance for a recreational wood campfire or ground bonfire on a city lot. State regulation 6 NYCRR 215.3 does allow 'small fires used for cooking and camp fires provided that only charcoal or untreated wood is used as fuel and the fire is not left unattended until extinguished,' but state law sets a floor, not a ceiling - New York City's Fire Code and Administrative Code Section 24-149 (which bans open fires emitting air contaminants) are more restrictive and control within the five boroughs. As a practical matter, the only lawful 'backyard fire' is either outdoor cooking on a barbecue grill or a manufactured residential fire pit meeting the FC 307.7 conditions (detached R-3 home, 10-foot clearance, constant attendance).
An unauthorized open backyard fire is unlawful open burning under FC 307.1; the FDNY may order it extinguished and issue a Fire Code violation, and it may also violate NYC Administrative Code Section 24-149 (air pollution) and the state open-burning rule 6 NYCRR Part 215, enforceable by NYSDEC.
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