Waukegan, IL Outdoor Cooking: Smoker Rules (2026)
Key Facts
- Exempt equipment
- Outdoor grills designed for cooking food
- Allowed fuel
- Natural gas, propane, charcoal, commercial fuel
- No permit required
- For grills, unlike bonfires or burn piles
- Underlying ban
- City Code § 10-8 open burning
- Burn permit route
- Apply to Fire Dept. under § 10-8(c)
- General fine
- $25.00-$750.00 per § 1-13
Summary
Waukegan exempts outdoor grills from its citywide open-burning ban under City Code Sec. 15-26(a), as long as the grill is designed and used for cooking food and burns natural or propane gas, charcoal, or another commercially available fuel meant for outdoor grills. Anything outside that description falls back under the open-burning prohibition in Sec. 10-8.
(a)The prohibition on open burning of waste within the corporate limits of the City of Waukegan found in section 10-8 herein, shall not apply to fires in outdoor grills designed and used for cooking food and utilizing natural or propane gas, charcoal, or other commercially available fuel intended for use in outdoor grills.
Official source re-checked September 7, 2026: no newer edition of the code had been published (publisher’s edition: Code of Ordinances: Supplement 113).
Full Breakdown
Section 10-8 makes it unlawful to burn leaves, brush, tree or bush trimmings, paper, garbage, refuse, waste, or other combustible material anywhere in the city, public or private. Section 15-26(a) pulls outdoor cooking equipment out from under that ban entirely: a grill, smoker, or similar cooking appliance is exempt as long as it is designed and used for cooking food and it burns natural gas, propane, charcoal, or another fuel that's commercially available and intended for outdoor grills. Unlike the separate fire pit and fireplace exception in subsection (b), the grill exception carries no setback distance, noncombustible-surface requirement, or mandatory adult supervision written into subsection (a) itself; those conditions apply only to fire pits and fireplaces.
A resident who wants to burn something the grill exception doesn't cover, such as material for a bonfire or a burn pile, has to apply to the Waukegan Fire Department under Sec. 10-8(c) for a supervised open-burning permit, which the fire department can only grant with the fire chief's prior approval and which must specify the date, time, place, purpose, and the person responsible for supervising the burn.
Violations & Fines
Using a device or fuel outside what Sec. 15-26(a) describes, such as burning trash, yard waste, or construction debris rather than commercial grill fuel, forfeits the exception and falls back under the open-burning prohibition in Sec. 10-8. That section carries no fine of its own, so a violation defaults to the Code's general penalty in Sec. 1-13: not less than $25.00 nor more than $750.00, with each day of a continuing violation counted as a separate offense.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I use a charcoal grill in my Waukegan backyard?
Is a smoker treated the same as a grill under Waukegan's code?
Do I need a permit to have a fire for burning yard waste?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Waukegan
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