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

Section 90.02(D) of the Lincoln County Code gives the Board of County Commissioners standing authority to shut down open burning countywide when conditions turn dangerous. The provision declares it a nuisance to burn any substance, natural or human-made, or to intentionally cast off a burning substance, during a fire danger emergency, and it lets the Board declare that emergency by resolution at any time of year, in any unincorporated area of the county, whenever weather or other conditions make open burning unduly hazardous or a danger to public safety.

Once declared, the Board's resolution may prohibit all open burning of any substances, regardless of circumstances, and that prohibition stays in force until the Board rescinds it by its own further action, meaning a burn ban is a discretionary, resolution-by-resolution tool rather than a fixed seasonal calendar date in the code itself. The division carves out one exception: it does not apply to a fire maintained in an interior fireplace, stove, or furnace. Burn-ban violations are folded into the same nuisance-enforcement machinery as every other § 90.02 condition: the Planning Director enforces Chapter 90 under § 90.03, can inspect property under § 90.04, must serve written notice to abate under § 90.05, and any failure to abate is independently unlawful under § 90.06.

The penalty in § 90.99 is a Class 2 misdemeanor: up to 30 days in jail, a $200 fine, or both, with each day of continued violation potentially a separate offense, on top of the county's option to pursue civil abatement under SDCL §§ 21-10-5 through 21-10-9.