Champaign, IL Outdoor Cooking: Smoker Rules (2026)

Section 15-20(f), inside the Chapter 15 burning article, permits outdoor cooking fires: charcoal or small wood fires used for cooking are allowed only in containers designed for cooking over such fires, and those containers must be placed so they cannot cause fire or smoke damage to property or injury to any person. That is a narrower carve-out than the recreational campfire rule in subsection (e); a cooking fire does not need the 20-square-foot enclosure or the 10-foot structure clearance that applies to a backyard fire pit, but it still has to sit in a purpose-built cooking container, not a bare pile of coals or an open pit.

5, in the property maintenance and nuisance chapter, prohibits operating charcoal burning or other open-flame devices on combustible balconies, or within ten feet of combustible balcony construction. That balcony rule applies regardless of whether the device sits in a compliant cooking container, and it is the operative limit for the grills and smokers common on apartment balconies near campus. 5 is handled through the general nuisance and property-maintenance enforcement process in Chapter 22, which can require abatement in addition to any fine.