Queen Creek, AZ Fire Regulations: Fire Pits & Backyard Fires (2026)

Article 7-8 of the Queen Creek Town Code, adopted by Ordinance 157-99 in 1999, governs fireplaces and woodstoves built or installed in homes: Section 7-8-2 requires any permanently constructed fireplace or woodstove to burn only gas or EPA-certified clean-burning fuel, and Section 7-8-4 requires a Construction Code permit before installation. Section 7-8-5, however, carves fire pits out of that scheme entirely, listing them alongside furnaces, boilers, cookstoves and barbecue grills as installations that Article 7-8 does not regulate and does not prohibit. In practice that means a homeowner can install a wood-burning fire pit, chiminea, or portable outdoor fireplace in a Queen Creek yard without applying for a Construction Code permit or meeting the EPA emissions-certification standard that applies to an indoor fireplace insert.

That does not mean an outdoor fire is unregulated for every purpose. 1 prohibits open burning of rubbish containing paper products and any open burning that becomes offensive or objectionable because of smoke or odor emissions or hazardous given local conditions. The Queen Creek Fire and Medical Department, whose Fire Chief serves as the Fire Code Official, enforces that provision townwide, in both the Maricopa County and Pinal County portions of Town. A resident burning wood or charcoal in a backyard fire pit that smokes out a neighbor's yard, or lights a fire during a wind or drought advisory, can still be cited even though no permit was required to build the pit itself.