Cocoa, FL Fire Regulations: Outdoor Burning (2026)

5-51 opens the city's outdoor fires article with a finding that outdoor fires may pose a public nuisance if not adequately controlled, and makes it unlawful to ignite or maintain an outdoor fire on property unless it complies with the section. Subsection (1) flatly prohibits outdoor burning of trash, debris or similar articles in any zoning district, with no exception for residential or industrial land. Subsection (5) defines a bonfire as a fire that does not qualify as a recreational fire or a fire in a portable outdoor fireplace, and requires an open burn permit issued by the fire department before it can be lit.

Subsection (7) goes further, allowing the fire official or authority having jurisdiction to require an open burn permit for any outdoor fire at all if they determine it is necessary to protect public safety, and states that conducting an open burn without a required permit is itself a violation of the section. Subsection (6) gives a fire official or authority having jurisdiction standing authority to order the immediate extinguishment of any outdoor fire that becomes a public nuisance or a hazardous condition, or that falls out of compliance with the section; if the responsible person does not comply with that notice, the fire department is authorized to extinguish the fire itself to protect public safety.