Rowan County, NC Fire Regulations: Outdoor Burning (2026)

Section 19-26 of the Solid Waste and Hazardous Waste chapter defines open burning as any fire in which the products of combustion are emitted directly into the outdoor atmosphere rather than through a stack, chimney or incinerator. Section 19-28(n) then makes open burning of solid waste unlawful outright, alongside the chapter's companion ban on open dumping in Section 19-28(o). The prohibition sits inside the county's broader storage-and-disposal rules: solid waste generally must go to a permitted sanitary landfill, a permitted incinerator, or another disposal method approved by the state division of health services.

The Rowan County Fire Code, adopted at Section 7-60, treats commercial open burning as an operation requiring its own permit, and the fire division within the county's Department of Emergency Services enforces a separate civil fine schedule for open-burning violations under Section 7-60(6)(d): $35 for a first offense, $50 for a second, and $100 for a third or subsequent offense, on top of any state air quality open-burning regulation the violation also breaks. Unpaid fines can trigger a criminal summons. On the solid-waste side, Section 19-32 makes any violation of the solid waste article a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of up to $50 or imprisonment of up to 30 days, with each day counted as a separate offense, and a civil penalty of up to $500 enforceable through the county's environmental services and code enforcement staff.