Raleigh, NC Fire Regulations: Outdoor Burning (2026)

Sec. 7-2005(a)(4) of the Raleigh City Code states plainly that no person shall burn solid waste, including trash, recycling, or yard waste, outdoors on the streets or sidewalks or on private property within the city limits. There's no permit path or seasonal exception written into this provision, it is a categorical prohibition on open burning of waste materials, distinct from the separate landfill operating rule in Sec. 7-2007(k)(12)(a), which also bars 'fires or other burning' at the City's sanitary landfills. The ban's reach extends slightly beyond the corporate limits: it applies to persons living within one mile of the city limits if a public health or public safety nuisance from their burning is established, and the City provides those residents the same access to drop-off disposal services it gives city residents, closing off the argument that a nearby resident has no legal disposal alternative.

Because the burning ban sits inside Part 7's solid waste chapter rather than the fire code, Solid Waste Services enforces it using Part 7's own administrative process rather than a criminal citation, and any person with control of the property where burning occurred, owner, tenant, or occupant, can be held responsible.