Bergen County, NJ Fire Regulations: Fire Pits & Backyard Fires (2026)

Article III, Section (l), Fire, of the Bergen County Parks System Rules and Regulations sets the baseline for the whole park system in a single sentence: no person shall start or maintain a fire, except in the places provided for such purpose. For camping specifically, Article IV, Section (d), Camping, paragraph V, layers on a permit requirement: a separate Fire Permit from the Fire Warden is required for camping fires, obtainable at the same time as the camping permit itself, and every term the Fire Warden attaches to that permit must be obeyed.

The same paragraph fixes the physical standards that make a campfire lawful: the fire has to be kept in an approved fireplace, combustible materials must be kept at least ten feet away, tents must be flameproof or fire-resistant, and a live fire can never be left unattended. Camping, and therefore campfires under a Fire Permit, run on a fixed season from April 1 to November 30, with a two-week annual limit per person on issued camping permits, so a fire pit set up outside that window or without the underlying camping permit has no lawful basis.

Cooking fires are handled separately: campsite ground fires are allowed under Article III, Section (h), except at Van Saun County Park, where a permanent grill must be used instead of a ground fire.