Janesville, WI Outdoor Cooking: Smoker Rules (2026)

Sec. 16-189(a)(1) allows wood-fired outdoor cooking fires, the category that covers a wood or charcoal smoker, only in a portable, commercially manufactured cooking device intended for that use, unless the device qualifies under the pre-existing masonry fire pit exception in subsection (d). Subsection (a)(3) requires the cooking device to be operated as an entire, listed unit rather than modified or combined with other parts, and subsection (a)(4) requires the lid and any spark screening supplied with the device to stay in place while it is in use.

Subsection (a)(5) applies the same 25-foot clearance used for campfire pits: a wood-fired smoker or cooking device must sit at least 25 feet from the nearest building, lumber pile, wood pile, wooden fence, wooden deck, dry grass or other combustible material, and subsection (a)(6) bars its use once winds or gusts hit 20 miles per hour. Subsection (a)(7) requires constant attendance by a responsible adult with a garden hose or other extinguishing equipment ready until the fire is fully out. Subsection (a)(8) is the fuel rule specific to smokers and wood cooking devices: only clean, dry natural wood and kindling may be burned, no other combustible material, and no accelerant may be used to start the fire.

Subsection (a)(9) requires the device to be maintained in good repair and safe condition at all times. A violation is enforced under Sec. 16-196's incorporation of the Article II penalty in Sec. 16-31, a $25.00 to $500.00 forfeiture per offense.