Canyon County, ID Fire Regulations: Fire Pits & Backyard Fires (2026)

Canyon County Code § 02-03-13(4)B lists 'Recreational And Warming Fires' as one of the allowable categories of open outdoor burning: outdoor fires used for preparing food or for recreation, giving campfires, ceremonial fires and barbecues as examples, plus fires set purely for hand warming. These fires are allowed by right in unincorporated Canyon County without a burn permit, unlike the prescribed-burning and dangerous-materials categories listed elsewhere in the same subsection that require agency plans or an official's order. The county code does not set a minimum distance from a dwelling, property line or other structure for a fire pit; the physical safeguards it does impose are behavioral.

Section 02-03-13(4)D requires that any fire allowed under (4)B, including a recreational fire, be constantly attended until it is fully extinguished. Section 02-03-13(4)C then cuts off all open burning, recreational fires included, whenever the Idaho DEQ air quality index reaches 75 or higher for any pollutant measured in the county, whenever sustained winds exceed 20 miles per hour or gusts exceed 35 miles per hour, or whenever the National Weather Service Boise office has a red flag warning in effect for any part of the county.

Section 02-03-13(4)E also makes clear that following the county rule does not excuse a resident from any other agency's fire rules or from liability for damage the fire causes. This framework applies only outside the incorporated cities; Caldwell, Nampa and the county's other cities set their own recreational-fire and fire pit standards.