Alpharetta, GA Outdoor Cooking: Smoker Rules (2026)

Alpharetta Code of Ordinances Sec. 20-8 prohibits open burning of refuse, rubbish, brush, wood, trash, leaves, tree limbs or other combustible materials anywhere in the city, but expressly exempts outdoor burning connected with preparing food for immediate human consumption and fires in recreational fire pits meeting the size and location standards of the Unified Development Code. Fire pits do not need advance public safety department approval and are not limited to cooking use, but they must be attended at all times. The section sets a specific nuisance test for smoke: a fire pit creates a prohibited nuisance only if smoke enters a neighboring home with the windows and doors closed.

If public safety receives complaints from more than one neighboring household within a 24-hour period, an officer must respond, inspect, and decide whether the fire must be extinguished or a warning or citation issued. The fire chief or designee and the director of environmental services or designee enforce the section and may cite violators. Georgia's minimum fire safety standards under O.C.G.A. § 25-2-12(a) are separately adopted by the city in section 20-10 for commercial construction review, but section 20-8 is the city's own cooking-fire and fire-pit rule.