York County, VA Fire Regulations: Fire Pits & Backyard Fires (2026)

Section 11-54 of the York County Code, part of Article V's Open Burning ordinance, lists activities exempt from the open burning prohibitions in Section 11-53 to the extent the State Air Pollution Control Board's own regulations also cover them. Subsection (b) is the fire pit and backyard fire provision: it exempts open burning for campfires or other fires used solely for recreational purposes, for ceremonial occasions, for outdoor noncommercial preparation of food, and for warming outdoor workers. Unlike the leaf-burning and debris-burning categories in Section 11-55, a recreational fire under Section 11-54(b) is not tied to a specific curfew, minimum setback distance or permit requirement in the text of the article; those numeric conditions apply instead to leaf burning under Section 11-55(a).

Section 11-53(e) still applies to a recreational fire, however: the exemption does not excuse or exempt anyone from liability, damages or injuries the fire causes, nor from complying with other applicable laws, including the Forest Fire Law of Virginia at Section 10.1-1142 and the State Air Pollution Control Board's own air-quality regulations. A recreational fire can also lose its exemption if it is actually being used to dispose of household refuse, construction debris or hazardous waste, since Section 11-55(b) separately bans burning household refuse given the county's curbside collection service.

The fire chief or the fire chief's authorized representative enforces Article V, and Section 11-57(a) makes any violation of the article, including an out-of-bounds recreational fire that becomes a disposal fire or an unattended fire that spreads, a Class 1 misdemeanor.