Caddo Parish, LA Fire Regulations: Outdoor Burning (2026)

Caddo Parish Code of Ordinances § 32-90 opens with a blanket rule: no person may burn any matter or materials on public or private property outside the confines of a building or structure anywhere in the unincorporated parish. Subsection (b) then carves out six exceptions. A private property owner may burn leaves, grass, twigs, branches, and vines on his own property for noncommercial purposes, but only if he attends the burn the entire time. The code also exempts burning agricultural byproducts in the fields during planting, harvesting, or processing; controlled burning of cotton gin agricultural wastes tied to gin operations; controlled burning connected to timber stand management; controlled burning of pasture or marsh land connected to trapping or livestock production; and any burn conducted under a variance granted by the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality.

Even where an exception applies, the fire chief of each special fire protection district must implement procedures to track and record approval or disapproval of burn requests, and that same fire chief is separately authorized to declare a burning ban within the district. Once a ban is declared, the code reverts to its blanket rule: no person may burn any matter whatsoever outside a building or structure in the unincorporated parish for the ban's duration, overriding the yard-waste and agricultural exceptions. The section does not apply to prescribed burns conducted by the state department of agriculture and forestry, by persons it has trained and certified, or by persons conducting prescribed burning as a generally accepted agricultural practice under R.S. 3:3602(9). The ordinance was adopted at Code 1985 § 15-12 and most recently amended by Ordinance No. 6352 in September 2023.