Shasta County, CA Fire Regulations: Fire Pit Rules (2026)

Shasta County does not ban backyard fire pits outright, but it treats them differently from trash or vegetation burning. Shasta County Air Quality Management District Rule 2:6 (Open Burning: General Provisions, subsection b.8) exempts 'open outdoor fires used only for cooking food for human beings or for recreational purposes per CH&SC 41704' from the District's open-burning permit and permissive-burn-day requirements. That means a recreational fire pit is not regulated as 'open burning' for air-quality purposes the way a debris pile is. However, the air-quality exemption does not override fire-safety authority. CAL FIRE/Shasta County Fire is the fire protection agency for the unincorporated county, which sits largely in State Responsibility Area with very high wildfire hazard, and the fire agency can restrict or prohibit open flames during declared high fire danger, red-flag conditions, or burn-permit suspensions. Rule 2:6 also states it is the District's intent not to permit open burning when prohibited by fire agencies for fire control. Best practice in Shasta County is to keep recreational fires small, burn only clean dry firewood (not garbage or yard debris, which is covered by the burning rules), keep a water source and tool nearby, maintain clearance to vegetation, never leave a fire unattended, and check the daily burn/fire-danger status before lighting.