Jefferson Parish, LA Outdoor Cooking: Smoker Rules (2026)

Sec. 1 sets the fire-safety conditions a vendor must meet before warming, heating, reheating or cooking food from an outdoor concession during the official Carnival Parade Season. The vendor first needs a permit from a Jefferson Parish Fire Department, displayed at all times the vendor is preparing food or transacting business. The cooking equipment must carry a fire-resistive barrier shielding any heat-producing surface from combustible material; if it lacks that barrier, Sec. 1(b) instead requires the equipment to sit at least 50 feet from any structure and at least 25 feet from any combustible material.

Liquid-petroleum-gas cooking equipment must be examined and certified by a plumber holding a state LP-gas certification, per subsection (c), and equipment must be kept in a secured location with spent ash, oil and cooking media disposed of safely. Vendors must have either two 5-pound or one 10-pound fire extinguisher on site, rated for the cooking hazard and currently inspected, and equipment producing grease-laden vapors needs a Class K extinguisher plus an exhaust hood system meeting NFPA 96 and the Jefferson Parish Fire Prevention Code, per subsections (i) through (l).

A Jefferson Parish Fire Department must inspect the finished setup before any cooking starts. Sec. 1(g) also requires the vendor to carry a $1,000,000 certificate of insurance naming the Parish of Jefferson and the Fire Department as additional insureds. This sits alongside Sec. 6-101(d)(4), which separately bars any open-flame heating or cooking system at a Carnival concession stand, and Sec. 6-100(k), which bans open-flame cooking devices outright on the public right-of-way within 50 feet of a parade route.