Hawthorne, CA Outdoor Cooking: Smoker Rules (2026)

A backyard smoker is a cooking appliance, so it falls under Hawthorne Municipal Code Section 8.32.070, which allows cooking fires on private property only in commercially produced containers (or LA County Fire-approved containers). The approved fuels for such fires are coal, charcoal briquettes, white gas, natural gas, or liquefied natural gas. A typical charcoal, pellet, or propane smoker that uses charcoal briquettes or gas as its heat source is consistent with these rules; using small amounts of cooking wood or wood chips for flavor within a manufactured smoker is normal barbecue practice, but building a loose open wood fire is not permitted. Propane-fired smokers follow the same California Fire Code Chapter 61 LP-gas rules adopted at Section 8.32.060 - a standard 20-pound cylinder outdoors needs no permit. Smoke from a smoker must not become a public nuisance; excessive or sustained wood smoke that drifts onto neighbors can be addressed under the City's nuisance provisions, and South Coast AQMD residential wood-burning rules and Rule 444 (which bars open burning of waste) also apply. Smokers should be kept a safe distance from structures, fences, and combustibles and attended while in use.