Laredo, TX Fire Regulations: Outdoor Burning (2026)

Section 15-20 of the Code adopts, word for word, the Texas Air Control Board's Regulation I through Regulation V, including Regulation II governing outdoor burning, as the city's own ambient air and emission standard; the director must keep a certified copy on file with the city secretary as a public record. Section 15-22 backs that adoption with a direct prohibition: no person may "cause, suffer, allow, or permit" the emission of any air contaminant identified under section 15-20, which folds the state's outdoor-burning limits into an enforceable city offense rather than leaving it as advisory guidance.

Enforcement runs through the director of environmental services, whose section 15-17 duties include investigating complaints, inspecting sources, and requesting that the city attorney prosecute violations. Section 15-23 gives the director and staff authority to enter public or private property to check air contaminant levels against the state board's standards, and separately authorizes the city attorney to bring a civil suit in district court for injunctive relief to stop a continuing violation, independent of any criminal case. Section 15-25 sets the penalty by cross-reference to section 1-6, the Code's general penalty clause, which fixes fines at up to $500 for an ordinary Code violation but raises the ceiling to $2,000 for any rule "that governs fire safety, zoning, or public health and sanitation," a category outdoor burning falls squarely into. Each day a violation continues is a separate offense under section 1-6(b), so an unextinguished or repeated burn can compound daily.