Gwinnett County, GA Fire Regulations: Outdoor Burning (2026)

Section 42-46 splits outdoor burning into three tracks. Land-clearing pit fires at development sites need a written permit from fire plan review: the applicant submits a plat showing the burn pit's location, pays the fee set by the county land development and other services fee schedule, and passes a pre-burn site inspection. An approved permit is valid for 30 days and can be extended twice in 15-day increments at no extra cost. Pits must sit at least 300 feet from any occupied structure, only wood waste, untreated lumber, trees, stumps, leaves, and brush may be burned, and air curtain destructors must run under a trained operator with no more than 40 percent smoke opacity.

Vegetation, warming, cooking, and recreational fires do not need a written permit but still carry hard numbers: yard debris burns must stay 50 feet from a structure and 25 feet from a property line (25 feet from a structure if the pile is under three feet across and two feet high); warming fires must burn in a 55-gallon-or-smaller metal barrel at least 50 feet from any structure when it is 50 degrees or colder; and bonfires need a no-fee permit, and must sit at least 50 feet from a structure for piles up to four cubic feet, and 100 feet for piles up to five cubic feet.

Section 42-46(d) then layers county-wide restrictions on top of every category: no burning on Sundays or at night (bonfires, cooking, and chiminea fires are exempted from the night rule), none when winds are forecast above 15 mph, none during a National Weather Service Red Flag Warning or air pollution alert, none within 20 feet of flammable or explosive material, and no burning of household garbage or anything producing heavy dark smoke. Every fire, permitted or not, must be constantly attended with a garden hose or other extinguishing equipment on hand.