Lincoln County, NC Fire Regulations: Outdoor Burning (2026)

042 of the Lincoln County Code covers all open burning conducted within 100 feet of a structure, including bonfires, brush and yard-debris fires, and land-clearing burns. A permit from an agency authorized to issue burning permits is required before any such fire is lit, and the burn must also satisfy the North Carolina Administrative Code (15A NCAC 1901-1907) and the state Fire Prevention Code. No permit may issue for burning rubbish or waste, for land-clearing burns within 1,000 feet of a residential structure other than the one on the burning property, or for yard-trimming fires closer than 50 feet to any structure.

, must be kept 50 feet from structures with a 10-foot cleared perimeter, may only consume natural material (limbs, brush, grass, leaves, wood, never trash, treated lumber, or rubber), and must be constantly attended with a garden hose or other extinguishing equipment ready. The County Fire Marshal's office, on its own or in step with the State Forest Service, can declare a burning ban whenever low humidity below 50 percent, high winds, elevated temperatures, dry conditions, or a nearby hazardous-materials incident makes fire dangerous; the ban voids every outstanding permit, blocks new ones, reaches residential burning too, and is announced through the news media and the County Public Affairs Officer until lifted.