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

Fountain Valley Municipal Code § 17.04.020 rewrites Section 307.6 of the 2022 California Fire Code for the City of Fountain Valley. The amended text covers outdoor fireplaces, fire pits, fire rings and similar exterior devices used at Group R occupancies. Every such device must comply with section 307.6 as the City Council amended it. The local amendment itself states no distance, size or fuel figure, so the operative requirements sit in the fire code that § 17.02.020 adopts by reference, and that adoption expressly includes Section 307 among the provisions that are included.

The exception is narrow: barbeques, grills, and other portable devices intended solely for cooking fall outside the section. A fire pit or fire ring is a regulated device in the City of Fountain Valley, while a portable cooking grill is not covered by this section.

The fire code official and the Fountain Valley Fire Department administer the fire code. Section 17.02.060 replaces the fire code's appeals board with the City Manager, who must designate an outside hearing officer if he or she determines an outside board is needed. Fees for starting regulated work without a permit are set separately: under § 17.08.020 anyone who commences any work, activity or operation regulated by the fire code before obtaining the necessary permit pays a penalty equal to one hundred percent of the required permit fee.

Public land follows a different rule. Under § 12.08.060, lighting or maintaining a fire in a City park needs a permit from the community services director unless the fire is in a stove, barbecue grill or similar device. Sky lanterns are banned outright by § 17.04.040, which says a person shall not ignite, release, or cause to be released a sky lantern. The Council adopted these Title 17 provisions in Ordinance No. 1592 in 2022.