Spring Hill, TN Fire Regulations: Fire Pits & Backyard Fires (2026)

Section 7-602(A) of the Spring Hill Municipal Code is the fire pit rule. It first states that homeowners are not allowed to burn combustible materials or residential waste or construction debris. It then permits homeowners to have fire/BBQ pits as long as the pit is 25 feet from a structure or other combustible material. The same sentence says the allowance includes non-commercial fires used for cooking of food including BBQ and outdoor fireplaces. The 25-foot distance is the only numeric standard printed in the section, and it is measured to buildings and to any other combustible material alike.

What goes into the pit matters as much as where it sits. Section 7-602(B) prohibits the burning of yard debris, grass clippings and leaves, so a pit cannot be used to dispose of lawn waste. Section 7-502 separately bars burning roofing, waste oil or fuel, plastics, oil-based products, paints, insulation or any other construction material emitting airborne pollutants within the city limits of Spring Hill. The citywide ban in § 7-601(A) lists a commercial barbeque fireplace as its own exception, a category apart from the homeowner pit in § 7-602. Section 7-201 defines open burning as the burning of any matter where products of combustion go directly into the open atmosphere without passing directly through a stack, and § 7-602(A) is where the code allows residential cooking fires and outdoor fireplaces alongside that ban.

Construction sites carry a matching number. Warming barrels allowed under § 7-601(C) during cold weather must also be at least 25 feet from a structure or combustible material. Larger brush burns are a different lane entirely: § 7-603(B) reserves property maintenance burns, by permit, for owners of more than five acres zoned other than residential.