Rapid City, SD Fire Regulations: Outdoor Burning (2026)
Outdoor burning rules in Rapid City, SD, 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
- Default rule
- Open burning banned in Air Quality Control Zone
- Permit needed for
- 6 of 9 listed exceptions (a-f)
- Permit issuer
- Rapid City Fire Department
- Always banned
- Waste oil, tires, treated wood
- Penalty
- General penalty § 1.12.010
- Enacted
- Ord. 5958 (2013)
Summary
Rapid City Municipal Code § 8.34.170 bans open burning anywhere in the Air Quality Control Zone except for nine listed purposes, and six of those nine require advance permission from the Fire Department before ignition. State rules layered on top separately ban burning waste oil, tires, treated wood and asphalt shingles no matter what.
A. Open Burning Restricted. 1. No person shall, at any time, engage in open burning activities within the Air Quality Control Zone, except as allowed under the following conditions:
a. Open burning of agricultural irrigation ditches;
b. Open burning for noxious weed control;
c. Open burning for wildfire control management;
d. Open burning for ecosystem management;
e. Open burning for Fire Department personnel training;
f. Open burning of a fire hazard;
g. Open burning for the heating or cooking of food for human consumption in residential areas, city parks and campground areas; ... ... i. Open burning for ceremonial purposes. ... ... D. Conditions for Open Burning Approval within City Limits. Prior to ignition, a person requesting to open burn in the city limits for the exceptions allowed under division A.1.a. through f. of this section must gain permission from the Rapid City Department Fire Department.
Full Breakdown
1 opens with a blanket ban: no person may engage in open burning within the Air Quality Control Zone at any time, except for agricultural irrigation ditch burning, noxious weed control, wildfire control management, ecosystem management, Fire Department personnel training, burning of a fire hazard, cooking or heating fires in residential areas, city parks and campgrounds, confined recreational fires, and ceremonial burning. , meaning the irrigation-ditch, weed-control, wildfire, ecosystem, training and fire-hazard categories, must get permission from the Rapid City Fire Department before ignition. 320X to be removed before lighting.
Layered on top, subsection C imports South Dakota's own open burning rules from ARSD 74:36:06:07: no one may burn waste oil, rubber, waste tires, tarpaper or asphalt shingles; a municipality or county may not burn municipal solid waste absent a small-town exemption under ARSD 74:27:12:25; salvage operations by open burning are barred except as ARSD 74:27 allows; and no one may burn railroad ties or wood treated with inorganic arsenicals, pentachlorophenol or creosols. 220, in addition to any penalty.
Violations & Fines
Section 8.34.260 punishes any violation of Chapter 8.34, including illegal open burning, under the citywide general penalty in § 1.12.010: a fine of $1 to $500, up to 30 days in jail, or both, with each day of continued burning a separate offense. The city can also seek an injunction under § 8.34.270.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I burn yard waste or brush in Rapid City?
Do I need Fire Department permission before an open burn?
What open burning never requires city permission?
What's always banned regardless of permission?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Rapid City
How Rapid City compares: Cities with the Strictest Outdoor Burning Rules·Compare Rapid City to another location·View the South Dakota fire regulations overview
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