Boulder, CO Fire Regulations: Outdoor Burning (2026)
Outdoor burning rules in Boulder, CO, also called the burn ban, open burning, or fire restriction ordinance, set when you can burn yard waste, debris, or run a recreational fire.
Key Facts
- Governing section
- Fire Code § 307(1) (BRC 10-8-2(b)(13))
- Covered materials
- Trash, paper, wood, weeds, brush
- Geographic reach
- Citywide and on city property beyond limits
- Agricultural exception
- Genuine crop-growing operations only
- Training exception
- Fire department or approved industrial training
- Enforcement
- Boulder Fire-Rescue as fire code official
Summary
Boulder bans open burning of trash, brush, and wood citywide. Fire Code § 307(1), reenacted at BRC 10-8-2(b)(13), makes it unlawful to kindle or maintain any bonfire or burn trash, paper, wood, weeds, brush, or other combustible material outside a habitable building or a code-built exterior fireplace anywhere within city limits or on city property beyond them, with only four narrow, clearly defined exceptions.
(1)No person shall kindle or maintain outside of a habitable building or outside of an exterior fireplace built in accordance with the City of Boulder Building Code any bonfire or burn or permit to be burned any trash, paper, rubbish, wastepaper, wood, weeds, brush, plants, or other combustible or flammable material anywhere within the city limits or anywhere on city property outside of the city limits, except when:(a)The burning is in the course of an agricultural operation in the growing of crops as a gainful occupation and presents no fire hazard to other property in the vicinity;(b)The burning is a smokeless flare, or a safety flare used to indicate some danger to the public;(c)The burning is a training fire conducted by the fire department, or is a training fire conducted by another fire department, or privately for industrial or commercial fire training purposes; or(d)The burning is solely for the purpose of fuel mitigation to alleviate wildland fire potential or weed abatement to assist restoration of native plants.
Official source re-checked September 7, 2026: no newer edition of the code had been published (publisher’s edition: Municipal Code: Supplement 167 Update 3).
Full Breakdown
Section 307(1) of Boulder's Fire Code sets out the city's general open-burning ban in broad terms: no person shall kindle or maintain outside of a habitable building or outside of an exterior fireplace built in accordance with the City of Boulder Building Code any bonfire or burn or permit to be burned any trash, paper, rubbish, wastepaper, wood, weeds, brush, plants, or other combustible or flammable material anywhere within the city limits or anywhere on city property outside of the city limits. That sweeping prohibition covers everything from burning yard waste to torching a pile of construction debris.
Four exceptions carve out narrow relief: burning in the course of a genuine agricultural crop-growing operation that presents no fire hazard to neighboring property; a smokeless or safety flare used to signal danger; a training fire run by the Boulder fire department or another fire department, or a private industrial or commercial fire-training exercise; and burning solely for fuel mitigation to reduce wildland fire risk or for weed abatement tied to native-plant restoration. A fifth, separately defined exception covers permitted 'ceremonial fires' under 307(1)(e), which require their own Boulder Fire Rescue permit and must sit in a code-defined ceremonial fire pit or chantico.
Chapter 2's definitions clarify what counts as regulated 'open burning' in the first place: burning where visible combustion products go directly into the air without passing through a chimney from a code-built fireplace. Boulder Fire-Rescue functions as the 'fire code official' with enforcement authority under this chapter, per the Chapter 2 definition amendment adopted alongside Section 307.
Violations & Fines
Kindling or maintaining an open burn that doesn't fall within one of Section 307(1)'s four listed exceptions, or the separate ceremonial-fire permit process, is a Fire Code violation. Boulder Fire-Rescue can order the fire extinguished immediately and pursue the civil penalty schedule built into the code's general enforcement provisions, $150 for a first violation, $300 for a second, and $1,000 for a third of the same provision, plus referral for criminal prosecution in Boulder Municipal Court for repeated or hazardous burning.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I burn yard waste or brush in Boulder?
Are there any legal exceptions to Boulder's open burning ban?
Who enforces Boulder's open burning rules?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Boulder
How Boulder compares: Cities with the Strictest Outdoor Burning Rules·Compare Boulder to another location·View the Colorado fire regulations overview
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Outdoor Burning in Nearby Cities
How other cities in Boulder County handle outdoor burning.