Collier County, FL Fire Regulations: Outdoor Burning (2026)
Outdoor burning rules in Collier County, FL, also called the burn ban, open burning, or fire restriction ordinance, set when you can burn yard waste, debris, or run a recreational fire.
Key Facts
- Governing law
- Collier County Code § 58-1
- Coverage
- Unincorporated Collier County only
- Trigger
- BCC resolution on drought findings
- Index used
- Keetch/Byram Drought Index
- Enforcement
- Sheriff and code enforcement officers
- Violation class
- Civil infraction, daily fines
- Exception
- Florida Forest Service-permitted burns
Summary
Collier County has no year-round ban on open burning, but the Board of County Commissioners can declare a drought-triggered burn ban by resolution across the entire unincorporated county. Once triggered, campfires, bonfires, yard-trash burning, and fireworks sales become unlawful, enforced by the Sheriff's Office and county code enforcement. Violations are civil infractions with fines that stack daily.
The areas subject to this Ordinance shall be all the unincorporated areas of Collier County, Florida. The sheriff...and designated Collier County code enforcement officers, shall have the authority to enforce the terms and provisions of this Ordinance and any approved County Resolution implementing this Ordinance. ... A Resolution may make it unlawful for any person to set fire or cause fire to be set to any forest, grassland, wild land, marsh, vegetation, or land in an urban or rural area...or the building of campfires, bonfires, the burning of yard trash, household garbage, refuse, or other debris in the unincorporated areas of Collier County, unless otherwise provided herein as an exception. ... Any violation...shall be considered a Civil Infraction and may be prosecuted in the same manner as described in Ord. No. 2007-44, the Collier County Consolidated Code Enforcement Ordinance, as amended, with such penalties as set forth therein. Each day any violation...shall be considered a separate violation subjecting the violator to the fines and/or imprisonment specified herein.
Official source re-checked September 7, 2026: no newer edition of the code had been published (publisher’s edition: Code of Ordinances: Supplement 126 | Land Development Code: Supplement 33).
Full Breakdown
Collier County's outdoor-burning law, codified at Code § 58-1 and titled the "Regulation of Outdoor Burning and Incendiary Devices during Drought Conditions Ordinance," is not a standing ban: it sits dormant until the Board of County Commissioners declares a local emergency and adopts an implementing resolution. The County Manager recommends activation after weighing the Keetch/Byram Drought Index, consultation with the Florida Forest Service and county fire chiefs, current meteorological forecasts, and vegetation susceptibility to ignition; the Chairman (or Vice-Chairman) can then sign a resolution imposing the ban without a full Board vote.
Once active, a resolution can outlaw campfires, bonfires, pile burning, yard-trash and household-garbage burning, and the discharge or sale of fireworks anywhere in the unincorporated county, and can even restrict events, such as motorcycle or off-road runs, whose hot exhaust could spark a wildfire. The ban stops at the county's own edge: it covers only unincorporated Collier, not Naples, Marco Island, or Everglades City, which run their own fire codes. Two carve-outs survive any ban: burning or land-clearing done under a Florida Forest Service permit, and training exercises run by a fire department or district.
Once the drought passes, the County Manager notifies the Board and the ban lifts immediately by a repeal resolution; the County Manager must also publicize any ban or repeal through radio, television, and electronic media.
Violations & Fines
A violation of the ordinance or an active burn-ban resolution is a civil infraction, prosecuted the same way as any case under Ordinance No. 2007-44, the Collier County Consolidated Code Enforcement Ordinance, carrying the fines set out there. Each day a violation continues counts as a separate offense, so fines compound daily. Officers issuing a notice to appear or making an arrest must seize, or document the safe destruction of, the incendiary device or ignition source as evidence.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is there always a burn ban in Collier County?
Who enforces Collier County's burn ban?
What happens if I burn during a declared ban?
Are any burning activities exempt from a Collier County ban?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Collier County
How Collier County compares: Cities with the Strictest Outdoor Burning Rules·Florida rules heatmap·Compare Collier County to another location·View the Florida fire regulations overview
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