San Benito County, CA Outdoor Cooking: Smoker Rules (2026)

San Benito County has no ordinance specifically regulating barbecue smokers, so the same California Fire Code (CFC) framework as other open-flame cooking applies, layered with MBARD air-quality rules. A wood- or charcoal-burning smoker is an open-flame cooking device, so the CFC Section 308.1.4 principle keeps such devices off combustible multifamily balconies and at least 10 feet from combustible construction (with exceptions, including small LP-gas devices up to 2.5 pounds). At a single-family home, a properly placed smoker is allowed. Because smokers run low and slow for many hours and produce continuous wood smoke, the practical limit is MBARD's authority over smoke: MBARD (which covers Monterey, San Benito, and Santa Cruz Counties) enforces a year-round trash-burning ban and regulates open outdoor fires under Rule 438, and smoke that drifts onto neighbors can be treated as a public nuisance. Use clean, dry cooking wood or charcoal - never painted, treated, or trash wood, which is illegal to burn. The wildfire dimension also matters: a smoker tended for hours on a dry, grassy rural parcel is an ignition risk, so keep it on a noncombustible surface, clear of vegetation, with water nearby, and be mindful of CAL FIRE restrictions during severe fire weather. There is no permit requirement for ordinary residential cooking smokers.