Wausau, WI Fire Regulations: Outdoor Burning (2026)

010 of the Wausau Municipal Code opens with a blanket prohibition: open burning, outdoor burning, refuse burning, burn barrels and outdoor wood boilers are illegal anywhere in the City of Wausau unless one of the listed exceptions applies. The exceptions are narrow. Subsection (a) permits cooking with gas or charcoal on a grill, subject to a separate multi-family setback rule. Subsection (b) allows manufactured propane or natural-gas outdoor fireplaces, but bans adding logs, charcoal, coal, wood, paper, vegetation or cardboard to them, and requires installation to manufacturer specifications.

Subsection (c) covers approved fire-department training burns. Subsection (d) gives the Fire Chief standing authority to shut down any open flame, even one otherwise allowed, whenever climatic conditions make it dangerous to adjoining property or produce noxious smoke; the Chief must publish notice of a citywide ban in the official city newspaper and through television and radio public service announcements, or notify a property owner directly. 020, which the general prohibition explicitly defers to. Enforcement runs through the Fire Chief and Fire Marshal, with the Fire and Police Departments both authorized to respond to smoke complaints and order fires extinguished. The rule reaches every property inside Wausau's city limits; it does not extend to unincorporated Marathon County land, which is governed separately.