Jackson County, MI Fire Regulations: Outdoor Burning (2026)

Chapter IV, Section 3 of the Jackson County Parks and Recreation Commission Ordinance addresses fire on the properties the Commission administers. Subsection A makes it unlawful to willfully set fire, or cause to be set on fire, any tree, forest, woodland, brush land, grassland, meadow, prairie, marsh, slash, refuse or refuse container, or any structure, on Commission property, full stop; unlike most other prohibitions in this ordinance, that clause carries no Director-permission exception. Subsection C separately bars leaving any fire unattended for any reason, and Subsection D bars dropping, throwing or scattering lighted matches, burning cigars, cigarettes, tobacco paper or other inflammable material anywhere on the property.

Violating any of these provisions triggers the ordinance's general enforcement chapter: the fire-setting ban is not just a park-rules matter but a misdemeanor exposing a violator to county jail time. Because the ban sits inside the Parks and Recreation Commission Ordinance rather than a general fire-code chapter, it only reaches land the Commission itself administers; it does not create a county-wide open-burning permit system or a county fire marshal's burn-ban authority over townships or private property. Anyone burning debris outside a Commission park should instead check with their township fire department or the Michigan DNR's burn-permit program rather than this ordinance.