Cathedral City, CA Fire Regulations: Outdoor Burning (2026)

Section 13.80.155 of the Cathedral City Municipal Code, titled Public burning, is a single sentence, but its reach is wide. The words are "any material, structure, matter or thing," so the rule covers brush piles, trash, lumber and a building alike, on any premises or property within the city. The only way around it is a validly issued permit allowing that specific burning. Without one, the act is both unlawful and a public nuisance.

The section does not name the office that issues the burn permit, and the chapter prints no burn-ban calendar or fire-danger trigger. What it does print is the consequence. Because the burning is declared a public nuisance, a code compliance officer who inspects the property and finds the condition can issue a notice of public nuisance and order to abate under Chapter 13.90 (§ 13.90.010). That notice must list the code section violated, the deadline to correct and the administrative appeal process (§ 13.90.020). It is posted on the property and served on the record owner, tenant, occupant or agent in charge (§§ 13.90.050 and 13.90.060).

Burning ties into other rules in the code. Section 13.80.160 separately makes it a public nuisance to operate or allow any activity in Cathedral City that pollutes the atmosphere with unwholesome, offensive or deleterious gas, fumes, dust, smoke or odors. On public streets, § 14.16.040 requires an encroachment permit before anyone sets a fire on a right-of-way, and § 14.16.010 lists lighting or building a fire among the acts that count as an encroachment. Smoke that drifts onto neighboring property can therefore support a second nuisance finding on top of the permit violation.