Broomfield, CO Outdoor Cooking: Smoker Rules (2026)

Chapter 8-18 of the Broomfield Municipal Code, the city's open burning ordinance, separately defines outdoor cooking and folds smokers into that definition rather than treating them as open burning. Section 8-18-010(D) defines outdoor cooking as the use of liquid- or gas-fueled grills, stoves, and cooktops, charcoal grills, barbeque grills, and pellet and electric smokers, for preparing food. That distinction matters when the North Metro Fire Rescue District or the chief of police declares a fire ban or fire restriction under Section 8-18-010(B). During a Level 1 fire restriction, imposed for severe, dry conditions, most open flame and recreational campfires are prohibited, but the ordinance expressly allows outdoor cooking using charcoal, pellet, or other solid fuel, propane, natural gas, or electric grills or smokers at private one- and two-family dwellings.

That carve-out means a backyard smoker session stays legal at a single-family home even while campfires and unpermitted burning are banned citywide. The protection narrows under a Level 2 fire ban for extreme conditions: any outside appliance using a solid fuel such as wood, wood chips, or charcoal, or a liquid fuel, that cannot be immediately shut off by a switch, valve, knob, or dial is prohibited, which reaches a traditional charcoal or wood-pellet smoker but not an electric or valve-controlled gas smoker. Violations of Chapter 8-18, including using a non-shutoff smoker during a Level 2 ban, are punished under Section 8-18-030 according to B.M.C. Chapter 1-12.