Gilroy, CA Fire Regulations: Outdoor Burning (2026)

Section 12.8 of the Gilroy City Code targets a narrow category of open burning: bone, feathers, offal, flesh, hair, or 'other substance' burned on premises a person owns, occupies, or controls, where the smoke or gas causes an odor or renders the air unwholesome, injurious to health, or offensive to the senses of city residents. The section declares that kind of burning a nuisance outright, meaning the city does not have to prove actual injury, only that the burning tainted the air or offended the senses of the inhabitants.

Because § 12.8 sits in Article I of Chapter 12, 'Garbage, Refuse and Weeds,' alongside the dumping and rubbish-accumulation sections, it functions as this chapter's answer to backyard incineration of the kind of animal and food waste the chapter otherwise requires be bagged and collected: rather than burn a carcass, offal, or trimmings, an owner is expected to use the mandatory garbage service the chapter sets up in § 12.16. The section does not carry its own listed fine, and it predates the city's current fire code, which layers additional restrictions on open burning generally through the 2025 California Fire Code.

Enforcement of § 12.8 itself runs through the Gilroy City Code's general penalty ladder in § 1.7: a first violation is an infraction fined up to $100, escalating to $200 and $500 for repeat violations within a year, before a fourth violation becomes a misdemeanor. The health officer, fire chief, or any peace officer can inspect a yard or premises for this kind of burning under the right-of-entry granted in § 12.2, and obstructing that inspection is its own misdemeanor.