Lake Elsinore, CA Fire Regulations: Outdoor Burning (2026)

Section 8.20.010 makes it unlawful to allow any accumulation of combustible or inflammable material, including wood, trash, waste, paper or rags, or to let weeds, dry grass, leaves or shrubbery build up so as to constitute a fire hazard anywhere in Lake Elsinore. Section 8.20.020(A) then bars burning that material, household trash, or a pit barbecue on one's property unless done under a fire permit issued by the Chief of the Fire Department or an authorized agent. Under § 8.20.030, the Fire Chief issues permits individually for each fire, setting the permitted burn time and any conditions needed to protect people and property; the code specifically bars issuing a general, standing permit.

The Fire Chief also inspects incinerators under § 8.20.040 and can bar further use of any incinerator not properly located, constructed or used, and can order any fire in the city extinguished under § 8.20.050 to prevent danger or the fire's spread. The burning prohibition sits alongside the separate accumulation offense in § 8.20.010, so a property owner can be cited either for letting fire-hazard debris pile up or for actually burning it without a permit. Two carve-outs exist elsewhere in the same section: licensed recreational campfires in approved stoves or fire rings, and small residential cooking fires and barbecues, neither of which needs a fire permit.