Pocatello, ID Fire Regulations: Outdoor Burning (2026)

Chapter 8.20 adopts the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality's health effect designations for particulate matter under Section 8.20.050, and once the department declares an "air quality alert" and notifies local print, radio, and television media, the burning prohibitions in Section 8.20.060 take effect automatically. During an alert, no person may operate or allow the operation of a solid fuel heating appliance or fireplace, no person may operate or allow the operation of a refuse incinerator, and no person may cause or allow any open burning of materials or fuel to occur.

Section 8.20.070 carves out exemptions: appliances the EPA lists as clean burning, or specifically exempted from that listing, may keep running through an alert, and appliances not on that list get a three hour burn down period once the alert is declared. A solid fuel device that is the sole source of heat for a building can also keep operating during an alert if it is registered and certified by the fire department, displays an exemption decal visible from the public right of way, and switching to alternative heat would cause an unreasonable economic hardship.

Anyone denied an exemption decal can request a hearing before the city council under Section 8.20.080, whose decision is final except for further appeal to the sixth judicial district court. Outside of alert periods, Section 8.20.030 still bars burning refuse or coal in a wood-fuel appliance, burning railroad ties or carcinogen-treated wood, and running a solid fuel appliance beyond twenty percent opacity except during a fifteen minute startup or refueling window.