Skokie, IL Fire Regulations: Outdoor Burning (2026)

Skokie Village Code Section 50-44, in the fire prevention chapter, opens with a blanket prohibition: no person may burn or cause the burning of paper, cardboard, leaves, twigs, branches, wood, grass, grass clippings, landscape waste, or other combustible materials of any nature anywhere in the village. The only carve-outs are burning wholly within a building in a fireplace or facility built for that purpose (with any residential refuse incinerator required to meet Illinois Air Pollution Control Board rules), and burning in a compliant outdoor fireplace or cooking unit under Section 50-44(b).

A related but separate provision, Section 50-43, bars bonfires anywhere in the village unless the bonfire is part of a government-sponsored event, approved in advance by the Village Manager or designee, compliant with Illinois Air Pollution Control Board rules, and supervised by the Fire Chief or a designee; controlled prairie burns for environmental restoration require separate authorization from the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency plus Village Manager approval and Fire Chief supervision. Enforcement runs through the Fire Chief and fire inspectors under Section 50-32. Because Skokie is a home-rule village under Article VII, Section 6 of the Illinois Constitution, this ban is independent local law layered on top of, not merely a restatement of, the Illinois Environmental Protection Act's open burning restrictions.

There is no seasonal or permit exception for yard-waste burning: landscape waste must go through the village's solid waste collection program (Chapter 86) rather than being burned. Property owners who burn debris in a backyard barrel or open pile are in violation regardless of wind conditions, lot size, or distance from structures, since the ordinance contains no setback-based safe-harbor for prohibited burning, only the fireplace/cooking-unit exception.