Pasco County, FL Outdoor Cooking: Smoker Rules (2026)
Key Facts
- Grill exemption condition
- Grate maintained over the fire
- Outdoor cooking exemption
- Equipment designed to contain flame/heat
- Burn-ban trigger
- Drought index of 500 or higher
- Yard-waste burning setback
- 150 ft from occupied buildings
- Penalty statute
- Fla. Stat. § 125.69
- Enforcing agency
- Pasco County Fire Marshal/Fire Rescue
Summary
Pasco County bans open burning countywide, but § 46-75 carves out barbecue grill fires used to cook food (as long as a grate covers the fire) and residential outdoor cooking on contained equipment. Backyard smokers and grills need no burn permit and keep operating even when a drought-index burn ban halts yard-waste burning.
The provisions of this article do not apply to: Barbecue grill fires used solely for the preparation of food, provided that a grate is maintained over the fire; ... Residential outdoor cooking done on a suitable piece of equipment designed to contain the fire, flame and heat generated thereby; Outdoor cooking may also be done in any public or private place where there are facilities designated for outdoor cooking which would contain the heat, flames, or fire otherwise generated by outdoor cooking;
Official source re-checked September 7, 2026: no newer edition of the code had been published (publisher’s edition: Code of Ordinances: Supplement 94 Update 1 | Land Development Code: Supplement 20).
Full Breakdown
Chapter 46, Article IV bans essentially all open burning in unincorporated Pasco County: § 46-73 makes it unlawful to ignite, permit or maintain an open fire except as specifically allowed, and bars any burning during National Weather Service or FDEP air-stagnation advisories, local air pollution advisories, or whenever the Keetch-Byram Drought Index for the county reaches 500 or higher, or whenever the county administrator declares conditions hazardous. , extinguished an hour before sunset, piled no more than eight feet across, set back 25 feet from wildlands and 150 feet from occupied buildings), gets shut off by those drought and advisory conditions.
Section 46-75 puts grills and residential outdoor cooking in a different category entirely: they are not 'open burning' under this article at all, so none of those restrictions, permits or burn-ban shutoffs apply to them. The exemption covers barbecue grill fires used solely to prepare food, provided a grate is maintained over the fire, and residential outdoor cooking done on equipment designed to contain the flame and heat, plus cooking at public or private facilities built for that purpose. The exemption does not cover using a grill to burn trash, yard debris or anything other than food preparation; that reverts to being ordinary open burning.
Violations & Fines
Using a grill or fire pit for anything beyond contained food preparation, such as burning trash, leaves or debris in it, forfeits the § 46-75 exemption and becomes unlawful open burning under § 46-73. Section 46-76 makes violations of the open-burning article punishable under Fla. Stat. § 125.69, and the violator bears the cost of any fire department response needed to extinguish the illegal fire.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need a permit to use a smoker or charcoal grill at my house in unincorporated Pasco County?
Can I still use my grill during a county burn ban?
Can I use my grill to burn yard debris instead of just food?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Pasco County
Florida rules heatmap·Compare Pasco County to another location·View the Florida outdoor cooking overview
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