Yucaipa, CA Outdoor Cooking: BBQ & Propane Rules (2026)

Chapter 8.48 of the Yucaipa Municipal Code prohibits open fires in the City of Yucaipa, San Bernardino County, but § 8.48.040(A) exempts cooking devices from the chapter. The exempt devices are gas, propane or electric grills, and charcoal grills with fitted lids and spark-control features. The condition that applies to every one of them is distance: the device must be operated at least ten feet from combustible material. Ordinance 475, adopted by the Yucaipa City Council in 2025, wrote that rule.

Two wording points shape how the rule works. First, the lid and spark-control language is attached to charcoal grills; the printed text for gas, propane and electric grills names no equipment feature, only the ten-foot clearance. Second, the Red Flag Warning, Fire Weather Watch and No-Burn Day restriction in § 8.48.030(C) names portable outdoor fireplaces and recreational fires, and does not name cooking devices.

The exemption speaks of distance from combustible material and does not mention balconies, patios or multifamily buildings, so an apartment resident or homeowner is measured by the same ten-foot standard wherever the grill sits. What counts as combustible material is not defined in the chapter, so the Fire Department's reading controls in the field.

Because the exemption covers only the cooking devices described, a grill used to burn anything else falls outside it. Section 8.48.030(B) prohibits burning rubbish, waste, construction debris, yard clippings or other prohibited materials at any location within the city. The city's fire code amendment in § 15.04.075 adds, for hazardous fire areas, that barbecues and grills cannot be used to dispose of rubbish, trash or combustible waste material. Enforcement runs through the Fire Department, the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department under contract and code enforcement, which can immediately extinguish a prohibited fire.