Rialto, CA Outdoor Cooking: Smoker Rules (2026)

Rialto regulates outdoor cooking equipment inside Chapter 9.20, Burning Regulations, the same chapter that governs open burning and incinerators. Section 9.20.070 requires any incinerator, permanent outside grill or barbecue pit to comply with the whole chapter before it's constructed, located, installed, equipped, maintained or used, which pulls in the chapter's other standards: § 9.20.100 requires every incinerator and permanent outside grill to carry a spark arrestor approved by the fire chief, and § 9.20.120 specifies the two approved incinerator constructions (masonry or 18-to-20-gauge metal with an eleven-gauge, half-inch mesh spark arrestor kept several feet from combustibles) that a similarly built grill would need to match to pass inspection.

Section 9.20.090 limits what a grill or barbecue pit can be used for: it bars burning or disposing of combustible waste materials in a permanent outside grill or barbecue pit, so a backyard smoker or grill can't double as a trash incinerator. Section 9.20.130 backs that up with a broader fire-hazard prohibition, barring any incinerator, grill or barbecue pit that's built, located or used in a way that constitutes or occasions a fire hazard endangering life or property. If a grill's location itself becomes a nuisance or fire hazard, § 9.20.080 lets the fire chief order the owner to stop using it immediately and relocate it to an approved spot.

The fire chief or an authorized deputy can enter any premises at a reasonable time to check compliance under §§ 9.20.060 and 9.20.140, and every incinerator, grill and barbecue pit has to be kept in good working condition and repair under § 9.20.110.