Stonecrest, GA Fire Regulations: Fire Pits & Backyard Fires (2026)

Article VI of Chapter 12, Open Burning, starts from a citywide ban on open burning and then lists narrow exceptions, one of which is the recreational fire pit. Sec. 12-146(a)(4) permits warming fires in a barrel of 55-gallon capacity or less, or in other commercially sold outdoor fireplace devices, on two conditions: the fire cannot produce dense smoke or obnoxious odors, and it has to be attended by someone over the age of 17 at all times it burns. The subsection then adds a fuel limit that a lot of backyard fire pit users miss: untreated wood or lumber is the only material or substance allowed in the warming fire, so painted, stained or pressure-treated scrap, pallets and construction offcuts are off limits even though they burn fine in the same barrel.

That fuel cap layers on top of the general open-burning standards in Sec. 12-146(b), which independently bar heavy oils, gasoline, asphaltic material, plastic and rubber-containing items from any permitted open fire, require the fire to sit on private property clear of streets and sidewalks, and forbid burning that would violate federal EPA rules, Georgia Environmental Protection Division rules, or the state minimum fire safety standards folded into Chapter 12's fire code. There is no separate distance-from-structure setback written into the fire-pit exception itself; the ten-foot combustible-construction clearance in Sec. 12-146(a)(1) is written specifically for cooking devices on balconies and combustible construction, a different clause from the barrel and fireplace-device exception in subsection (a)(4).