Worcester County, MD Fire Regulations: Fire Pits & Backyard Fires (2026)

Worcester County regulates fire pits through its Open Burning Regulations, Subtitle V of Title PS1 in the Code of Public Local Laws. Section PS 1-501(c) defines open burning as any fire where any material is burned in the open or in a receptacle other than in a closed furnace, incinerator or other equipment connected to a stack or chimney, so a backyard fire pit counts. Section PS 1-502(a) bars open burning except as the Subtitle provides, and § PS 1-504 supplies the exemption that covers recreation: item (5) allows open burning for recreational purposes such as campfires, or for ceremonial purposes, as long as only unpainted or untreated wood is burned. The lead-in to the exemption list attaches two conditions to every item: the burn must conform with other governmental fire control ordinances, and no nuisance or air pollution can be created.

Item (4) in the same list covers cooking of food on other than commercial premises and allows it provided that only unpainted or untreated wood, charcoal, propane or natural gas is burned. Painted or treated wood is outside both items.

Section PS 1-502(b) gives the Control Officer, who is the Environmental Programs Administrator of the Department of Development, Review and Permitting, and the Fire Marshal sole discretion to stop a burn. A person cannot knowingly cause or permit open burning when air stagnation exists, when a national or state ambient air quality standard may be violated, when the burn causes unreasonable interference with a person's health, safety, comfort, or use or enjoyment of real property, or when it creates a nuisance. Section PS 1-502(c) requires every burn to remain under supervision until completely extinguished, including tending by sufficient personnel who are adequately equipped and trained.

The two-hundred-foot separation figures in § PS 1-504 belong to other items: leaves, household trash and workers' warming fires. Item (5) itself prints no distance. The five-hundred-yard and housing-density limits in § PS 1-503(k) are written for burns permitted under that section, which covers items such as hazardous waste, pest-infested crops and forest resource management.