Ridgecrest, CA Fire Regulations: Outdoor Burning (2026)
Outdoor burning rules in Ridgecrest, CA, 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
- Burning without permit
- prohibited citywide
- Permitted burn hours
- 6:00 a.m.–12:00 noon
- Required method
- incinerator with mesh screen
- Violation
- misdemeanor, Sec. 6-1
Summary
Ridgecrest prohibits burning brush, trash, lumber, or other combustible material within city limits unless the burner holds a written fire department permit, uses an incinerator between 6 a.m. and noon, or qualifies for the narrow small-pile, 100-foot rural exception.
No person shall set fire to or burn any brush, grass, lumber, trash, rubbish, leaves or other combustible material, unless such burning is done between the hours of 6:00 a.m. and 12:00 noon and in an incinerator, without first obtaining a written permit from the city fire department and then only in strict accordance with the terms of such permit. All incinerators shall have a one-quarter-inch mesh screen lid or cover over the smoke stack, or equivalent thereof and shall be permitted only when it is placed at least ten feet from any building, fence, property line, dry grass, or other combustible material. Written permission shall not be necessary when such flammable material is burned in small heaps or piles in plowed fields or not nearer than 100 feet to any house, corral, fence, structure, dry grass, brush, forest covered land, grain or stubble field, wood pile or hay stack or any other combustible material.
(Code 1980, § 17-1.3; Ord. No. 9, § 3)
Official source re-checked September 7, 2026: no newer edition of the code had been published (publisher’s edition: Code of Ordinances: Supplement 6).
Full Breakdown
Sec. 6-3 bars burning brush, grass, lumber, trash, rubbish, leaves, or other combustible material citywide unless done in an incinerator between 6:00 a.m. and 12:00 noon under a written permit from the city fire department, followed strictly. Incinerators must carry a one-quarter-inch mesh screen over the smokestack and sit at least ten feet from any building, fence, property line, or dry grass. A narrow no-permit exception covers small heaps or piles burned in plowed fields, or material burned at least 100 feet from any house, corral, fence, structure, dry grass, brush, or other combustible material. This sits in Ch. 6, Fire Prevention and Protection, applicable citywide, not to the surrounding unincorporated Kern County desert or the federal China Lake base.
Violations & Fines
Violating Secs. 6-2 through 6-4 (including this burning rule) is a misdemeanor under Sec. 6-1, enforced by the Ridgecrest Fire Department.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I burn yard waste in my backyard in Ridgecrest without a permit?
What hours is permitted burning allowed in Ridgecrest?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Ridgecrest
How Ridgecrest compares: Cities with the Strictest Outdoor Burning Rules·California rules heatmap·Compare Ridgecrest to another location·View the California fire regulations overview
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Outdoor Burning in Nearby Cities
How other cities in Kern County handle outdoor burning.