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

Section 6-83(c) of the Greenwood General Ordinances carves out a no-permit exception from the city's general open-burning ban for small residential fires. To qualify, the fire must burn inside a container with enclosed sides and a bottom vented enough to sustain primary combustion, and the container itself cannot exceed three feet in diameter or two feet in height. The fire must sit at least fifteen feet from every structure on the property, occur only on single-family residential property, and burn nothing but clean wood products and paper; anything larger, on other property types, or fed by different materials falls outside the exception.

Every open burn, permitted or not, remains subject to the general requirements in Section 6-83(b): it must be constantly attended by someone at least eighteen years old who has a garden hose or comparable firefighting equipment ready, and it cannot proceed during high winds, temperature inversions, air stagnation or a declared pollution or ozone alert. A fire pit that grows into a nuisance, a pollution problem, or a threat to health, safety or property can still be ordered extinguished by the Greenwood Fire Department under Section 6-83(b)(3), and any fire pit that does not meet all five conditions of Section 6-83(c), such as open campfires and bonfires, needs a Fire Department permit under Section 6-83(d) instead.