Apex, NC Fire Regulations: Wildfire Zones (2026)

Unlike California's CAL FIRE FHSZ system or Colorado's wildfire risk maps, North Carolina does not publish a state-mandated Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI) hazard zone map for use in local fire-code amendments. The North Carolina Fire Prevention Code (2018 edition based on the 2015 IFC) is the uniform statewide minimum standard, administered locally by the Apex Fire Department under Chapter 9 of the Apex Code of Ordinances. The state's principal active wildfire-prevention tool is the NC Forest Service permit program under NCGS Chapter 113, which requires a burn permit for open burning within 100 feet of any forest, brushland, or grassland (with exemptions for municipalities that have adopted local controls - the Apex Fire Department's position is that NCFS permits are not valid inside Apex). The NC Forest Service and the NC Agriculture Commissioner are authorized to issue statewide or county-level burn bans during hazardous fire-weather conditions; on March 20, 2025 NCDA&CS issued a statewide burn ban for all 100 counties due to extreme fire-spread conditions. Apex Fire Department wildfire-prevention guidance for residents focuses on the in-town rules of Chapter 9 - especially the Sec. 9-47 patio wood-burning setbacks and the Sec. 9-48 campfire setbacks - plus statewide grilling rules under NC Fire Prevention Code Sec. 504.8 (grills must be at least 10 ft from combustibles for occupancies other than 1- and 2-family dwellings and townhouses, and propane-grill ash containers must be metal and kept 10 ft from combustibles).