Carroll County, GA Fire Regulations: Fire Pits & Backyard Fires (2026)

Carroll County's open-burning rule does more than require a permit; Section 42-8(b) adds site rules for any fire that is burning lawfully, including backyard fire pits and brush piles. No fire may be started, or allowed to keep burning, nearer than 30 feet from a property line or from any structure, and a person capable of controlling the fire must be physically present with the means to do so immediately at hand for as long as it burns. Section 42-8(c) requires the fire to be attended until the last embers are out, and all burning must conform to state air-quality control rules regardless of the 30-foot distance being met.

These distance and attendance rules apply on top of the underlying permit requirement in Section 42-8(a): the Georgia Forestry Commission permit and the 30-foot setback are separate conditions, and both drop away automatically during windy or dry weather, when the county allows no open burning of any kind. The rule applies across the unincorporated county; Carrollton, Villa Rica and the county's other incorporated cities set their own recreational-fire rules inside their limits, so a backyard fire pit legal just outside Carrollton city limits is not automatically legal once inside it.