Inyo County, CA Outdoor Cooking: Smoker Rules (2026)

Smokers and wood-fired cookers are treated as cooking devices in unincorporated Inyo County. Great Basin Unified Air Pollution Control District Rule 406 prohibits open outdoor burning of refuse but expressly exempts fires used only for the cooking of food for human beings, as well as recreational fires contained in a fireplace, barbecue, or fire pit. A backyard smoker burning seasoned cooking wood, charcoal, or food-grade pellets therefore does not need a burn permit or a CARB-declared burn day. The fuel must be clean — Rule 406 requires fires be free of household, municipal, and industrial waste such as plastics, tar, tires, and wet wood — so you may never use treated lumber, painted wood, garbage, or other refuse as smoker fuel. Smoke from a smoker still must not create a public nuisance; persistent heavy smoke affecting neighbors could draw a nuisance complaint to the air district. Because much of the Owens Valley and Eastern Sierra is dry and wind-exposed, CAL FIRE (San Bernardino-Inyo-Mono Unit) or the local fire agency may impose seasonal fire restrictions or red-flag-day limits on open-flame and ember-producing cooking. Operate smokers on a noncombustible surface, a safe distance from structures and vegetation, and keep water or an extinguisher nearby.