Beloit, WI Fire Regulations: Outdoor Burning (2026)

City of Beloit Code of Ordinances § 6.03(1)(a) amends Wisconsin Administrative Code § SPS 314.03(9) to declare that no person shall cause or allow the outdoor burning of any materials whatsoever in the City, subject only to the exceptions the section lists. The Fire Department may set open training fires. Outdoor cooking is allowed in permanent fireplaces, portable braziers, grills and similar food-preparation appliances, but not between 10:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. in residential zoning districts, and never for more than 4 hours a day, except for licensed restaurants cooking at a City-sponsored event in a nonresidential district. Cooking fuel is limited to wood, not brush, twigs or branches under 4 inches, and never green, wet, treated or painted wood, charcoal, gas or electricity, and cooking above the ground floor or beneath a balcony or stairway at a multifamily, hotel, motel or commercial building is barred except for electric and gas appliances.

Portable outdoor fireplaces are separately permitted under conditions set out later in the same subsection. No one may install an outdoor wood-fired furnace anywhere in the City after March 30, 2005, and none installed after that date may be used or maintained. In City parks, outdoor cooking fires can't be left unattended, grass or vegetation can't be burned during cooking, and embers may only be removed once fully extinguished. The Fire Chief, Fire Prevention Bureau or City Manager may issue special burning permits outside these listed exceptions.