Martin County, FL Outdoor Cooking: Smoker Rules (2026)

Sec. 62 sits in Chapter 79 (Fire Prevention and Protection), Article 3, the Martin County Burning Permit article, which as a general rule under Sec. A requires anyone to obtain a written burning permit from the local fire station before starting or maintaining a fire outside a structure on unincorporated land. Sec. B carves out backyard cooking from that permit requirement: a permit is not required for the noncommercial preparation of food, provided the fire is no larger than necessary for preparing the kind and amount of food being prepared and is constantly attended by an adult until it is extinguished.

That covers a charcoal or wood-fired smoker, an open barbecue pit or a grill used to cook for a household or a backyard gathering, so long as it stays sized to the food being cooked and an adult stays with it start to finish. Chapter 67's Environmental Control Act reaches the same equipment from the air-quality side: Sec. C exempts barbecue equipment or outdoor fireplaces used for noncommercial purposes from that article's open-burning and pollution-control provisions, so a backyard smoker or fireplace used for cooking is not treated as regulated open burning under either chapter. Commercial smoking or barbecue operations fall outside both exemptions and remain subject to the Sec. A permit requirement and Chapter 67's environmental control standards.