Medford, OR Fire Regulations: Outdoor Burning (2026)

752 of the Medford Municipal Code regulate open burning citywide, adopted by Ordinance No. 2024-29 on April 4, 2024, and stated to supplement the Oregon Fire Code and DEQ open-burning rules. 751 requires written authorization from every person with ownership, control, or custody of the property before anyone may burn there. 752 then sets the permit structure: a Medford Fire Department permit is required to burn a structure for training, for commercial recreational fires (fires for pleasure, religious, ceremonial, cooking, or warmth purposes run as a business), or any other burning the fire code official designates.

No permit is required for outdoor cooking fires or outdoor fireplaces meeting Building Department standards (both still need the property owner's permission), for natural-gas- or propane-only fire appliances, or for small recreational fires and portable outdoor fireplaces at one- and two-family dwellings. Critically, subsection (4) closes the loophole: "Fires not specified by subsections (2) and (3) of this section are prohibited within the City of Medford," meaning any open burning that does not fit one of the listed permitted or exempt categories is an outright ban, not merely unregulated. 750(2), meaning officers can extinguish or order out a noncompliant fire on the spot rather than waiting for a citation to be adjudicated.