Riverside, CA Fire Regulations: Outdoor Burning (2026)
Outdoor burning rules in Riverside, 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
- Prohibited act
- Burning any 'waste matter' citywide
- Covered locations
- Any lot, street, alley, or waterway
- Hazardous waste burns
- Trigger cleanup cost recovery, § 16.32.390
- Exception
- Composting yard waste is allowed
- Last amended
- Ordinance 7740 (2025)
Summary
Riverside bans burning any waste matter, garbage, refuse, rubbish, recyclables, or hazardous waste, on any lot, land, street, alley, or waterway in the city under RMC § 6.04.080. Burning hazardous waste additionally triggers cleanup cost recovery. Composting yard waste, unlike burning it, is expressly allowed.
No person shall throw, drop, leave, dump, bury, burn, place, keep, accumulate or otherwise dispose of any waste matter, including, but not limited to, garbage, hazardous waste, refuse, recyclable materials, rubbish, or solid waste as defined in Section 6.04.010 upon any lot, land, street, alley, water or waterway, either with or without intent to later remove same. Any person in violation of this Section may be subject to the hazardous materials cleanup cost recovery provisions of Section 16.32.390. Solid waste may not be buried on any lot in the City. This section shall not be interpreted to prohibit composting of yard waste.
Official source re-checked September 7, 2026: no newer edition of the code had been published (publisher’s edition: Code of Ordinances: Supplement 33).
Full Breakdown
04, the City's refuse and solid-waste code, and it functions as Riverside's core open-burning restriction. 010 to include garbage, hazardous waste, refuse, recyclable materials, rubbish, and solid waste generally. The ban isn't limited to private yards: it covers "any lot, land, street, alley, water or waterway" in the city, public or private, regardless of whether the person intends to remove the material later. A separate clause in the same section bars burying solid waste on any lot in the city, though it carves out one explicit exception: composting yard waste is not treated as prohibited burial or disposal.
390, the City's hazardous-materials cleanup cost-recovery provision, meaning a violator can be billed for the cost of the cleanup response in addition to any citation for the burning itself. The section was most recently amended by Ordinance 7740 in 2025. 100, which requires adjoining property owners to keep alley frontage clear of solid waste, together forming Riverside's baseline sanitation enforcement around refuse and open burning.
Violations & Fines
Burning waste matter anywhere in the city, on a private lot, a street, an alley, or in a waterway, violates § 6.04.080 regardless of intent to clean up afterward. Where the burned material is hazardous waste, the responsible party is additionally subject to the City's hazardous-materials cleanup cost-recovery provisions under § 16.32.390, on top of standard code-enforcement remedies such as administrative citations or civil penalties available under the City's general enforcement chapter. Burying solid waste on a lot is treated as a separate violation from burning it, and an unsightly accumulation of waste independently qualifies as a public nuisance under § 6.04.090, giving code enforcement multiple enforcement tracks for the same pile of debris.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is it legal to burn trash or yard waste in Riverside?
Can I burn leaves or tree branches in my backyard in Riverside?
What happens if someone is caught burning waste on their Riverside property?
Does Riverside's waste-burning ban apply only to private property?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Riverside
How Riverside compares: Cities with the Strictest Outdoor Burning Rules·California rules heatmap·Compare Riverside to another location·View the California fire regulations overview
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Outdoor Burning in Nearby Cities
How other cities in Riverside County handle outdoor burning.