Battle Creek, MI Outdoor Cooking: Smoker Rules (2026)

The Battle Creek Codified Ordinances never use the word smoker. The nearest governing text is Section 1610.05(c), which defines recreational fires as open flame fires created by burning wood, trees, branches, kindling, wood chips, boxes, compressed wood or any other wood product for the purpose of food preparation and recreation. Those fires are allowed, provided they follow the conditions in the subsection. A cook running a wood-fired device in the City has to read those conditions as the working rules, and a device that burns wood or wood chips for food preparation falls within the printed definition.

The first condition is distance: a recreational fire cannot be conducted within 15 feet of a structure or of combustible materials. Paragraph (2) adds that conditions and materials which could cause a fire to spread within 15 feet of a structure must be eliminated before lighting. Paragraph (5) requires that the fire not be left unattended, that onsite fire-extinguishing equipment or a water source be close at hand, and that the fire be completely extinguished before leaving. Paragraph (6) puts full responsibility on the landowner to ensure the fire does not spread, is monitored and is fully extinguished, and paragraph (7) makes the landowner liable for any and all damage and requires the landowner to defend, indemnify and hold harmless the City of Battle Creek.

Size matters too. A fire above two feet in height or three feet in diameter becomes a bonfire that needs a City permit under subsection (d). Separately, subsection (e) covers charcoal burners and other open-flame cooking devices: no operation on balconies, none within ten feet of combustible construction, decorations or furnishings, and none over a public right-of-way or property of others. Unwanted materials, grass clippings and leaves cannot be burned under subsection (b).