Pontiac, MI Fire Regulations: Fire Pits & Backyard Fires (2026)

Section 58-147 opens with a flat ban: no person shall cause or permit an open burning in any public or private place outside any building. The recreational-fire exception at subsection (3) is one of seven carve-outs in the same section, alongside firefighter training burns authorized by the fire chief, hazard-elimination fires authorized jointly by the fire chief and the administrator of the Building and Safety Engineering Division, forest or game-management fires authorized by the fire chief, smoke-controlled open-pit incinerators, hydrocarbon flaring with no practical disposal alternative, and burning otherwise specifically permitted by state law.

Every exception, including the campfire carve-out, is conditioned on the opening clause's requirement that no public nuisance is or will be created, so a backyard fire pit that smokes out neighbors or burns unattended can still be shut down even though the activity itself is exempt. The article is enforced through appearance tickets under § 58-149, which any police officer, fire prevention bureau member, or administrator-designated inspector may issue, and § 58-148 directs that the article be construed liberally. Unlike the fuel-burning and incinerator provisions in §§ 58-145 and 58-146, which apply Ringelmann Chart smoke-density limits, the campfire exception carries no printed size, distance, or hourly limit of its own.