Satellite Beach, FL Fire Regulations: Fire Pits & Backyard Fires (2026)

Section 26-31 of the City Code governs open burning citywide, and subsection (b) lays out the only activities exempt from the general prohibition in subsection (a). The first exemption, § 26-31(b)(1), covers outdoor cooking fires: barbeques, outdoor fireplaces, tar pots, and commercial or industrial operations requiring open flames, so long as they are operated safely. The second exemption, § 26-31(b)(2), is narrow and geographic: ceremonial fires, recreational fires, bonfires and camp fires are only exempt from the permit requirement if they occur on Samsons Island, and even there only in areas the city has designated for that use and on grills the city has approved.

That means a resident's backyard fire pit for recreational purposes is not a cooking fire and is not on Samsons Island, so it falls outside both exemptions and instead needs a permit under § 26-31(c), which the fire department issues for ceremonial, recreational, bonfire and camp fires not covered by the exemption. The fire department (or, for bonfires specifically, whatever department the city council designates) can also extinguish or prohibit any fire, exempt or permitted, if environmental, atmospheric or local conditions make it a nuisance or hazard, and the fire chief can suspend all open burning citywide on that basis.