Washington County, UT Fire Regulations: Fire Pits & Backyard Fires (2026)

Section 4-4-4, titled "Other Exceptions," states that the county's burning permit chapter, which otherwise requires a state permit in closed season and a county permit in open season under sections 4-4-1 and 4-4-2, does not apply to devices used primarily for preparing food such as outdoor grills and fireplaces, to campfires and fires used solely for recreational purposes where the fire is under the control of a responsible person and the combustible material is clean, dry wood or charcoal, or to indoor fireplaces and indoor residential solid fuel burning devices.

Because this exception sits inside Chapter 4 of Title 4, a backyard fire pit burning clean dry wood under someone's direct control needs no state or county burning permit even during the closed fire season from June 1 through the last day of February. The exception does not waive other county requirements outside this chapter, such as any applicable setback or fire-code standard for the fire pit's placement, and it does not cover burning debris, trash, or construction material, which remains governed by the permit rules in sections 4-4-1 and 4-4-2 rather than this recreational-fire carve-out.