Burlington, WI Outdoor Cooking: Smoker Rules (2026)

Section 155-41B of the Code of the City of Burlington, amended November 4, 2025 by Ordinance No. 2130, reaches every "hibachi, gas-fired grill, charcoal grill or similar device used for cooking, heating, or any other purpose," a category broad enough to cover a smoker running low and slow in a backyard. Two limits apply across that whole category regardless of fuel type: no outdoor cooking device may be used between 12:00 midnight and the following sunrise, and no flame may exceed one foot in height over the source fuel at any time.

These sit alongside the balcony ban and seven-foot ground clearance for other than one- and two-family dwellings, and the separate bar on igniting any barbecue grill, kettle, hibachi or gas-fueled cooking device, deep fryer or camping stove inside any occupancy. Listed electrical grills or similar electrical apparatus are exempt from the flame-height and curfew limits because they present no open flame. Smoke from any outdoor cooking device still cannot become a nuisance to neighbors or public roadways under the same subsection. Because these limits sit in the Fire Prevention chapter, the Fire Department enforces them through the general citation authority at § 155-54, and a violation is penalized under § 155-55A, with each 24-hour period a continuing violation persists treated as a separate offense.