Gary, IN Fire Regulations: Fire Pits & Backyard Fires (2026)

The City of Gary regulates backyard bonfires and recreational fire pits under § 22-51(a) of the Municipal Code, part of Article III Fire Safety Standards, Division 1 Generally. The section draws a line between three settings: fires kindled in a street, alley, or road; bonfires on public ground; and bonfires on private property. For private property, the only condition the code sets is containment: the fire must burn inside a wire, metal, concrete, or similar nonflammable container or enclosure. The ordinance does not print a minimum setback distance from a fence, property line, or structure for a contained backyard fire pit, so any distance requirement would come from the adopted Indiana Fire Prevention Code (75-IAC-22) referenced at § 22-49, not from city text.

Section 22-51(b) separately bars depositing smoldering coals, embers, or oily material within ten feet of a wooden or plastered wall, fence, or combustible pile unless kept in a metallic receptacle on a noncombustible stand, a related but distinct rule about ember disposal rather than fire pit placement. The Bureau of Fire Prevention, housed within the Gary Fire Department, is the enforcing office named throughout Article III, and its director or any designated inspector may order hazardous conditions corrected under §§ 22-26 and 22-27. Because no fire-specific fine is printed at § 22-51, a violation defaults to the general penalty at § 1-7: up to $2,500 for a first offense and up to $7,500 for a second or subsequent offense, with each continuing day a separate offense.

Residents wanting a larger open fire, such as a bonfire on a vacant lot or park ground, must instead get written permission from the Bureau of Fire Prevention before lighting it, since that requirement governs public ground rather than private yards.