Syracuse, NY Fire Regulations: Outdoor Burning (2026)

The ban covers any outdoor fire burning trash, yard waste, construction debris or similar material, regardless of the size of the pile or the length of the burn. The only path around it runs through the Office of the Chief of Fire: a property owner must submit a written request laying out a reasonable purpose for the burn, a compelling need that justifies it and the safety measures in place, and the chief's office decides whether to grant written permission. Without that signed authorization, igniting yard debris, tree limbs, construction scrap or comparable waste in a Syracuse yard is a violation the moment the fire is lit; there is no size or duration threshold in the text.

The adjoining subsection, Section 27-48(b), carves out a separate and narrower allowance for outdoor fires used strictly for domestic food preparation, meaning a grill or smoker burning charcoal, hardwood, natural gas or LPG is regulated under that provision instead, not this one, so a resident cannot claim a trash fire is a cookout to sidestep the ban. Both subsections trace to the same 1993 general ordinance that created Chapter 27, the Property Conservation Code, which the Division of Code Enforcement administers citywide. Because Section 27-48 sits inside that Code, a violation is enforced the same way as any other Property Conservation Code offense: through a notice of violation followed by criminal or civil penalties under Section 27-120.