Ada County, ID Fire Regulations: Outdoor Burning (2026)

gov. Even when the air quality clears that bar, burning is allowed only for four purposes: keeping irrigation ditches and fencerows clear of plant and weed growth, controlling or alleviating a fire hazard or weeds when no alternative exists, training organized firefighting personnel, and disposing of tree remnants and dry vegetation when no other practical disposal method is available. Subsection B bans burning materials that produce toxic contaminants or heavy smoke outright regardless of air quality, listing wet or green vegetation, drywall, insulation, tires, plastics, roofing material, treated lumber, insulated wire and hazardous or pathogenic waste by name, and separately bans any burning that becomes a public nuisance or violates an air pollution alert under the county's clean air ordinance in title 5, chapter 10.

Subsection C layers on operational limits: fires must stay fifty feet from any structure or combustible material, a distance waived only for irrigation-ditch burns, must be constantly attended by someone with a connected garden hose or approved extinguishing equipment, cannot burn on someone else's property without the owner's permission, and are restricted to daylight hours, from dawn until dusk, with no overnight smoldering allowed. Recreational and warming fires under three feet in diameter and two feet high are treated separately under subsection D and must stay twenty-five feet from structures unless contained in a barbecue pit.