Shenandoah, TX Fire Regulations: Outdoor Burning (2026)

Section 42-2 of the Shenandoah Code of Ordinances flatly prohibits burning garbage or other organic refuse outside any building within the city at any time, prohibits burning papers, excelsior or other wind-blown materials unless confined to a stove, fireplace, furnace or sufficiently enclosed incinerator, and separately prohibits burning grass or leaves at any time, with no daylight or permit exception for that clause. The section traces to Code 1993, § 42-2, and carries a cross-reference to the solid waste chapter (ch. 58) and the vegetation chapter (ch.

98). Section 42-3 addresses a narrower activity, burning trees, limbs and roots cleared from lots or acreage for building or other purposes, and allows that only between sunrise and sunset, requiring the fire to be extinguished afterward unless an attendant stays with it the whole time until it is completely out. Chapter 42 also adopts the Standard Fire Prevention Code, 1997 edition, under § 42-1, giving the city an additional fire-code basis to restrict open flames. Because Shenandoah sits in Montgomery County, any local burning that is otherwise permitted can still be shut down by a county burn ban declared under Texas Local Government Code authority, and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality's statewide outdoor burning rule (30 TAC ch.

111) layers additional restrictions on top of the city's own ban; the city ordinance does not purport to override either. Violators are subject to enforcement under the general penalty provisions of the code administered by the city, since chapter 42 itself sets no separate fine schedule for the burning sections.