Downey, CA Fire Regulations: Outdoor Burning (2026)

36 of the 2025 California Fire Code, adopted locally as Downey's fire code, to require an operational permit for any kindling or maintaining of an open burning or recreational fire on any public sidewalk, street, alley, road, or other public or private ground. The permit requirement is enforced through the Bureau of Fire Prevention, which Section 3302 establishes within the Downey Fire Department under the Fire Chief's supervision, with the Fire Marshal running the Bureau day to day. Once issued, a burn permit does not stand alone: Section 3306 requires that open burnings and recreational fires be conducted in compliance with the requirements of Section 307, the companion section that Downey separately amended in Section 3311 to add specific time windows and fuel-load limits, plus any other instructions, stipulations, and conditions written into the permit itself.

Section 3306 also builds a neighbor-notice gate into private-property burns: no permit may be issued for an open burning or recreational fire on private property without proof that the applicant has notified the owners of properties adjoining the burn site. Permit applications and fees run through Section 3304, which routes them to the fire code official and ties them to fees the City Council sets by resolution, including a separate permit investigation fee if work or burning starts before a permit issues. Because the definition of 'recreational fire' in Section 3310 covers cooking, ceremonial, and warmth-purpose fires whose fuel is not contained in an approved barbecue grill, the permit requirement in Section 3306 reaches far beyond bonfires to cover most uncontained outdoor fire pits and portable fireplaces as well.