Salem, OR Fire Regulations: Fire Pits & Backyard Fires (2026)

SRC 58.004(e) modifies Oregon Fire Code section 307.1.1 to give Salem's Fire Code Official standing authority to impose either a limited or a total ban on recreational fires, which covers backyard fire pits and other open recreational burning, whenever weather conditions stay dry, hot, windy, or some combination of these for an extended period. The section lists five criteria the Fire Code Official may use to decide whether to call a ban: forecast or actual temperatures of 95 degrees Fahrenheit or above, relative humidity at or below 30 percent, wind speeds reaching or forecast to reach 15 miles per hour, a locally issued Red Flag weather warning, or a burn ban declaration from the Marion or Polk County Fire Defense Board. Any one, or a combination, of these conditions can trigger a ban, and the Fire Code Official is not required to wait until all five are met.

Because Salem adopts the Oregon Fire Code by reference (SRC 58.002), the baseline recreational-fire rules in the adopted OFC still apply between bans; SRC 58.004(e) layers Salem's local ban authority on top of that adopted code rather than replacing it. Separately, SRC 58.334 prohibits open burning of yard debris and garbage anywhere inside the Salem city limits at all times, regardless of weather; that ban is permanent and does not depend on the Fire Code Official declaring a burn ban. Violating either the yard-debris ban or an active recreational-fire ban is enforceable under the Fire Prevention Code's general stop-work and civil-penalty authority (SRC 58.011).