Kane County, IL Fire Regulations: Brush Clearance (2026)

Kane County Code § 15-2(B) allows open burning of landscape waste and brush only on the property where it was generated; burning anything else outdoors is prohibited. on sunny days, are barred whenever wind exceeds ten miles per hour, and can't be set within twenty feet of any building, structure or property line. A pile is capped at two hundred sixteen cubic feet, the code's own example is a stack six feet by six feet by six feet, and it can't be lit on a public or private road, alley, sidewalk or easement.

Whoever sets the fire has to supervise it until it's fully out and keep a fire extinguisher, garden hose or other water source on hand at the site. The Kane County health department can shut down burning countywide when it announces an inversion or ozone alert. Separate from that day-to-day brush burning, the chapter carves out habitat-reclamation and firefighter-training prairie burns, which are exempt from the chapter entirely as long as the person conducting the burn notifies the county health department, at 630-444-3040, and the local fire protection district or department both before and after the burn; a prairie burn permitted by the Illinois EPA is exempt outright.

Ceremonial fires using brush get their own condition: the fire department serving the area must be notified in advance and a permit obtained from the county health department, and skipping either step is itself a violation of the chapter, independent of the pile-size or timing rules. Ordinary domestic fireplaces, cooking fires and self-contained outdoor wood-burning devices are exempt from these open-burning restrictions altogether.