Cape Coral, FL Fire Regulations: Outdoor Burning (2026)

Section 8-14 gives the City Manager the power, duty and responsibility to sign an Executive Order banning all open burning in Cape Coral once dry conditions push the Keetch-Byram Drought Index to 600 or higher, or whenever the Fire Chief advises it's warranted; the ban takes effect the moment the City Manager signs. Open burning is defined broadly to cover kindling, creating, or maintaining any campfire, bonfire, or open or barrel burning of trash, discarding lit smoking materials outdoors, smoking in city parks, and selling or using sparklers, plus the same 600-yard charcoal-or-wood-barbecue buffer around unimproved property, woods, or marsh found in Section 8-10.

The ban exempts burning done by, or under the direct supervision of, authorized county or municipal personnel, or with Florida Forest Service authorization, and it never touches ordinary charcoal, wood, or propane barbecues, which shall not be prohibited even mid-ban. Once declared, the ban renews automatically in seven-day increments for as long as the drought index stays at or above 600, and it can only lift after the index has stayed below 600 for at least seven straight days. The Public Affairs Office must publicize any declaration or lifting through press releases, social media, and the city website, and the Fire Marshal and law enforcement jointly enforce it. The Part applies only inside Cape Coral's incorporated city limits.