Fort Collins, CO Outdoor Cooking: Smoker Rules (2026)
Key Facts
- Exempt appliances
- Grills and smokers used only for cooking
- General hour limit (inapplicable)
- 10:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m. otherwise
- General setback (inapplicable)
- 15 feet from property line otherwise
- Still prohibited
- Smoke/odor rising to a public nuisance
- Penalty for nuisance
- Civil infraction, § 1-15(f)
Summary
Fort Collins exempts barbecue grills and food smokers from its general limits on burning solid fuel outdoors under City Code § 20-1. While most outdoor solid-fuel fires are barred between 10:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. and must sit at least fifteen feet from a property line, § 20-1(g) carves out appliances built and used solely for noncommercial outdoor cooking from those hour and distance limits.
(e)No person being the owner, occupant, tenant, or otherwise having any possessory control, individually or jointly with others, of any property shall cause or allow the burning of solid fuel outdoors on such property between the hours of 10:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m.(f)No person being the owner, occupant, tenant, or otherwise having any possessory control, individually or jointly with others, of any property shall cause or allow the burning of solid fuel outdoors on such property less than fifteen feet from any abutting property line.(g)The provisions of 20-1(e) and 20-1(f) shall not apply to any of the following:(1)Solid fuel-burning appliances specifically designed and used exclusively for outdoor noncommercial cooking of food for human consumption, such as barbecue grills and smokers;
Official source re-checked September 7, 2026: no newer edition of the code had been published (publisher’s edition: Municipal Code: Supplement 155 | Transitional Land Use Code (for project before May 17, 2024): Supplement 61 | Traffic Code: Supplement 27).
Full Breakdown
City Code § 20-1 first declares it a public nuisance, and unlawful, to let smoke, odors, ash, or fumes escape in amounts that endanger public health or interfere with the comfortable enjoyment of property, a general standard that still reaches an unreasonably smoky or foul-smelling smoker session. § 20-1(g)(1) exempts from both of those specific limits any solid fuel-burning appliance specifically designed and used exclusively for outdoor noncommercial cooking of food for human consumption, such as barbecue grills and smokers. That means a backyard smoker or charcoal grill used to cook food is not subject to the citywide curfew on outdoor solid-fuel burning or the fifteen-foot setback from the property line, even though a bonfire or brush pile on the same lot would be.
The exemption is narrow: it covers only appliances built and used exclusively for noncommercial food cooking, so a hybrid use, such as burning yard waste in a converted smoker, would fall back under the general time and setback rules. Separate fire code provisions on portable and fixed outdoor fireplaces, adopted under § 9-2, still govern clearance from combustible material for fire tables and similar fixed appliances, but do not add hour restrictions to ordinary grilling and smoking.
Violations & Fines
A smoker or grill causing a genuine nuisance, thick smoke, ash drift, or odor that endangers health or interferes with a neighbor's use of their property remains a civil infraction under § 20-1(h), punishable under the civil penalty schedule in § 1-15(f), even though the hour and setback limits in §§ 20-1(e) and (f) do not apply to cooking appliances. The Fire Code Official can also step in on a fire-safety basis under Chapter 9.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I run a smoker in my backyard at night in Fort Collins?
Does my smoker have to sit fifteen feet from my neighbor's yard?
Can the City still cite me for smoker smoke bothering neighbors?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Fort Collins
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