Mission Viejo, CA Fire Regulations: Fire Pits & Backyard Fires (2026)

Sec. 6 to the adopted 2025 California Fire Code, requiring outdoor fireplaces, fire pits, fire rings or similar devices at Group R occupancies to comply with the section, exempting only barbeques, grills and other portable cooking devices. Sec. 110 permits gas-fueled devices, fueled by natural gas or liquefied-petroleum gas, when approved by the Building Department and designed to burn only a gas flame, never wood or solid fuel: at R-3 (single-family) occupancies, combustible construction must stay at least 3 feet from the vertical atmospheric column rising from the device's perimeter, while other R occupancies require a 10-foot setback, a gap that a Building-Department-approved hood and vent can allow combustible construction to encroach into between the hood's bottom and the vent opening.

Any installed chimney or vent must carry a spark arrester as defined in Section 202. Sec. 120 separately governs wood or other solid-fuel devices: permanent fireplaces must be built to the California Building Code, contain fires within a firebox with an attached, spark-arrested chimney, and stay at least 25 feet from combustible structures unless the fire is within a permanent or portable fireplace, with any conditions that could spread fire within that 25-foot radius eliminated before ignition. Sec. 130 further bars burning wood or solid fuel within a fuel modification zone, a Wildfire Risk Area, a Wildland-Urban Interface Area, or anywhere conditions could spread fire into those zones.