West Des Moines, IA Fire Regulations: Fire Pits & Backyard Fires (2026)

City Code § 4-3-4 rewrites International Fire Code section 307.4.1 for West Des Moines and deletes the code's standard 307.4.1 through 307.4.3 exception and 307.5 outright. The replacement is narrow: the only fire pits or portable outdoor fireplaces allowed anywhere in the city limits are ones that do not produce smoke, with no size or fuel-type exception carried over from the base International Fire Code. Anything that burns wood or produces visible smoke, treated by the ordinance as a bonfire, is prohibited unless the property owner first gets a permit issued by the West Des Moines Fire Prevention Bureau.

The same amendment, added as section 307.2.1.2, reaches into retail: any business inside city limits that sells fire pits, chimineas or other outdoor recreational devices that produce fire or embers must post signage on the display models telling customers those products are not allowed to be used within West Des Moines. That signage duty falls on the seller, not the buyer, and exists because the smokeless-only rule would otherwise catch homeowners by surprise after a purchase. The Fire Prevention Bureau administers both the retailer signage requirement and the bonfire permit process, and enforcement runs through the same Chapter 4-3 penalty structure that covers the rest of the amended Fire Code.