Greenville, NC Outdoor Cooking: Smoker Rules (2026)

Greenville's open burning ordinance, City Code § 12-1-19, starts from a broad ban on causing, suffering, allowing or permitting open burning of refuse or other combustible materials. Subsection (B) then carves outdoor cooking out of that ban by name, stating that the prohibition does not include outdoor cooking on commercially obtained or specifically constructed containers for cooking food such as barbeque grills, commercially obtained outdoor lighting such as tiki torches, or use of chimineas. Because this is an exception written into the prohibition itself, rather than a separate permit category, a backyard grill, smoker or chiminea used for cooking does not require the open burning permits that the Greenville Fire Rescue Department issues for bonfires, land-development burning or flag retirement ceremonies.

The exception is tied to the equipment being commercially obtained or specifically constructed for the purpose, the same language the code uses for cooking containers, tiki torches and chimineas alike; it does not extend to burning loose refuse, yard debris or construction scrap in a barrel or pit, which remain banned under subsection (A) regardless of whether the fire is being used to cook food. Because subsection (B) is an outright exclusion rather than a regulated allowance, the code sets no separate hours, setback distances or size limits for grills, smokers, tiki torches or chimineas; those fall instead under general nuisance, noise and fire-code provisions if smoke or flame becomes a hazard or a nuisance to neighbors.