Elmhurst, IL Fire Regulations: Outdoor Burning (2026)

Outdoor burning in DuPage County is governed by 35 Illinois Administrative Code Part 237 (Open Burning), administered by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency. DuPage County itself has not adopted a separate county open-burning ordinance, so Part 237 is the operative rule for unincorporated land in the county and runs alongside any stricter municipal ordinance inside an incorporated village or city.

Under 35 IAC §237.102 ("Prohibition"), no person may cause or allow open burning in Illinois except as specifically permitted in Part 237. The narrow exceptions in §237.120 do not save landscape-waste burning in DuPage County: §237.120(a)(3) excludes from the landscape-waste exemption (i) any municipality with population in excess of 2,500 per the latest federal census, (ii) areas adjoining those municipalities, and most importantly (iii) any area within 40 air miles of Meigs Field in Chicago. Because Meigs Field sat on the Chicago lakefront roughly 20 to 30 miles east of DuPage County's eastern boundary, the entire county lies inside the 40-air-mile circle, and lawful landscape-waste open burning is therefore effectively eliminated countywide.

§237.102 also categorically bans burning of "garbage" (kitchen and household waste), "trade waste" (refuse from manufacturing or business), demolition debris, tires, and treated wood. Allowed activities under §237.120 include small recreational campfires of clean dry untreated wood, on-premises agricultural-waste burning at least 305 meters from populated areas with proof no reasonable alternative exists, fire-suppression training, and small open flames for welding or heating where smokeless alternatives are infeasible. Residents should also check with their local municipality or fire protection district, because most DuPage municipalities (including Naperville, Wheaton, Downers Grove, and Glen Ellyn) have adopted stricter local bans on recreational fires, fire pits, or burning of any kind.