Palo Alto, CA Outdoor Cooking: Smoker Rules (2026)

Backyard smokers in unincorporated Santa Clara County sit at the intersection of wildfire and air-quality rules. Charcoal-fired and wood-fired smokers use solid fuel and open combustion, so during the seasonal CAL FIRE/county burn bans - which prohibit all open fires, campfires, and charcoal fires - charcoal and wood smokers are effectively prohibited, while propane/gas appliances remain allowed. On the air-quality side, the Bay Area Air District's wood-burning rule (Regulation 6, Rule 3) bans burning wood, manufactured logs, and other solid fuel - indoors and outdoors - whenever a Spare the Air alert is in effect, most common in the November-February winter season; a wood-burning smoker would be subject to that ban, though gas appliances are not. Outside of burn bans and Spare the Air alerts, a charcoal or wood smoker may be used, but it should be operated like any open-flame cooking device: on a noncombustible surface, at least 10 feet from the house per county fire guidance, clear of dry vegetation and overhanging limbs, constantly attended, with extinguishing equipment ready, and with coals fully extinguished and disposed of in a metal container. Because unincorporated areas are high-wildfire-hazard wildland-urban interface, residents who want year-round, restriction-resistant smoking should consider propane, natural-gas, or electric smokers, which are not affected by the wood-smoke ban. There is no separate county ordinance specifically targeting smokers; the controlling rules are the burn-ban orders, the Air District wood-smoke rule, and general Fire Code precautions.