Waco, TX Outdoor Cooking: Smoker Rules (2026)

" That reaches a smoker run inside a garage, carport, screened porch, workshop or similar enclosed space, not just an indoor kitchen. The equipment must be equipped with a smoke pipe or vent extending at least three feet into open air above the outside roof or top of that building, structure or enclosure, and the vent itself must carry an approved spark arrestor to keep embers from escaping into the surrounding area. The rule exists to keep smoke and sparks from an enclosed cooking fire from building up inside a structure or drifting onto a roof.

It's a separate track from § 10-45, which governs stoves, ovens, barbecue pits and open cooking fires used outside a building or enclosure and instead sets distance requirements from adjoining buildings, 10 feet for a pit and 50 feet for an unenclosed ground fire, rather than a vent requirement; once a smoker is moved fully into the open air on a lot, § 10-44's vent rule no longer applies and § 10-45's setback rules take over. Enforcement of both sections falls to the fire marshal's office and fire department personnel under § 10-2(a), and because chapter 10 imposes strict liability under § 10-2(b), running an unvented smoker inside a garage or carport is citable regardless of intent.