Santa Clarita, CA Fire Regulations: Fire Pits & Backyard Fires (2026)

060 lists the structures Santa Clarita allows to encroach into a required residential yard, and subsection (H)(6) is the specific rule for built-in fire features: built-in barbecues, fire pits, detached fireplaces and built-in entertainment centers must be five feet away from property lines and less than ten feet in height, including smoke stacks and chimneys. That puts a fire pit under the same standard as a built-in barbecue or an outdoor fireplace, rather than treating fire pits as a separate category. The five-foot setback and under-ten-foot height cap apply to every property line, not just the rear, and the height limit expressly reaches the smoke stack or chimney, so a tall spark-arrestor stack can push an otherwise compliant fire pit over the line.

The same subsection sets different numbers for other yard equipment nearby: ground-mounted air conditioners, pool pumps, and heaters need only two and a half feet from a lot line under subsection (H)(2), and fireplace structures attached to the dwelling itself follow the two-and-a-half-foot rule in subsection (H)(1) rather than the five-foot fire-pit standard, because they are treated as part of the main building rather than a freestanding yard feature. Backup generators get their own five-foot minimum under subsection (H)(2) as well, and must be screened from view.

Because these are yard-encroachment allowances rather than a blanket ban, a fire pit that cannot meet the five-foot, under-ten-foot standard must instead be sited entirely outside any required yard, where the chapter's general accessory-structure setbacks would apply instead.