Bakersfield, CA Fire Regulations: Fire Pits & Backyard Fires (2026)

34, Open Burning, to read: an operational permit is required for the kindling or maintaining of an open fire or a fire on any public street, alley, road, or other public or private ground. Unlike an unamended model code, Bakersfield's version carves out no size- or duration-based exemption for small backyard recreational fires, the permit duty applies to any open fire on private property as well as on public rights-of-way. 080's companion amendment on additional permits). Once issued, 'instructions and stipulations of the permit shall be adhered to', meaning the fire official can condition a permit on containment equipment, spacing from structures and vegetation, attendance requirements, or a suspension during red-flag or burn-restriction days, and departing from those conditions is itself a violation.

010) and applies everywhere inside Bakersfield's city limits; the text does not distinguish between a metal fire pit, an in-ground pit, or an open bonfire. Residents planning a backyard fire should contact the fire prevention division before lighting it, since the ordinance supplies no self-executing exemption a resident can rely on without a permit in hand.