Fire Regulations in Maryland (2026)

Open fires in Gaithersburg city parks are limited to city-provided fireplaces, with charcoal and gas grills allowed…

Recreational, heating and cooking fires are allowed. Fires over 3 to 5 feet must sit at least 50 feet from any…

Recreational and cooking fires must stay 30 feet from any building, with a 10-foot clear space kept around the fire and…

Prince George's County lets homeowners run gas or propane fire pits at single-family houses and townhouses under Sec…

Recreational fires under one cubic yard, like fire pits and campfires, are allowed without a license as long as they…

Frederick City allows a recreational fire, such as a campfire or fire pit, without a permit under Appendix H Sec…

Maryland Public Safety Article Section 10-101 et seq. classifies most aerial and exploding fireworks as illegal for…

Consumer fireworks are banned statewide under Maryland Code, Public Safety §10-101. Annapolis Code reinforces the ban…

Consumer fireworks are banned statewide under Maryland Code, Public Safety §10-101. Anne Arundel County enforces the…

Maryland restricts consumer fireworks (MD Public Safety Art. §10-101 to §10-113). Only ground-based items legal. Aerial…

Carroll County outright bans fireworks and explosives on park property under Code of Ordinances § 94.072, covering…

Fireworks of any kind are banned outright in every Cecil County park at every time of year, with no permit exception…

Charles County's zoning code flatly bars manufacturing fireworks, explosives, or gunpowder anywhere in the county, even…

Howard County treats consumer fireworks, explosives, and model rocketry as fire-code violations unless a Maryland State…

Montgomery County bans manufacturing, selling, possessing, or using fireworks countywide, with narrow exceptions only…

All consumer fireworks are illegal in Prince George's County, including the sparklers and ground-based sparkling…

Rockville bans possessing, selling, or discharging any fireworks within City limits, allowing them only at a public…

Beyond state fireworks law, Baltimore County Code Section 14-2-203 caps private displays at three times a year, bars…

Howard County's Fire Prevention Code lets the Fire Official declare dry brush, noxious weeds, or grass over 12 inches…

Gaithersburg City Code Sec. 19-6 makes it unlawful to burn leaves, trash, rubbish, weeds or any other substance in a…

Open burning of leaves, brush, and trash is tightly controlled in Prince George's County. Maryland's air rules ban open…

Anne Arundel County bans open fires without a Health Department license, though leaf and refuse burns, cooking fires…

Carroll County bans burning trash as a substitute for proper disposal. Section 50.03(J) forbids using open burning as a…

Frederick City bans open fires outright unless the fire fits a listed exception or the control officer issues a written…

Open burning of refuse anywhere in unincorporated Harford County requires a permit from the Department of Health's Air…

Howard County bans open fires outright unless they fall into a narrow list of no-permit uses, like noncommercial…

Montgomery County bans burning refuse or plant life outdoors without a Director-issued permit, with tight limits on…

Washington County bans burning trash as a way to get rid of it unless a permit is issued first. The Solid Waste…

Open fires in unincorporated Wicomico County are controlled by COMAR and enforced by the Health Department, which must…

When wildfire danger climbs, the Maryland Secretary of Natural Resources or the Governor may impose a burning ban under…

Howard County has no mapped wildfire-hazard or wildland-urban-interface zones. Humid central Maryland is not a…

Annapolis requires owners of every rental dwelling unit to install smoke alarms outside sleeping areas, in bedrooms…

Anne Arundel County's Property Maintenance Code requires smoke alarms outside every sleeping area, in every room used…

Baltimore County Code Section 14-2-201 requires every building of three or fewer rental units to have a direct-wired…

Carroll County's Livability Code requires at least one single-station smoke detector near every sleeping area in…

Cecil County's Minimum Livability Code requires a smoke alarm outside every separate sleeping area, installed and…

Gaithersburg's 2021 International Residential Code amendments close a smoke-alarm loophole: City Code § 5-5 strikes the…

Harford County's Minimum Livability Code requires every rental housing unit to carry at least one single-station smoke…

Maryland law, not county ordinance, sets Howard County's smoke alarm rules. Public Safety Article Section 9-104…

Montgomery County Code Chapter 22 requires owners of every dwelling unit to install a smoke detector in each sleeping…

Prince George's County requires smoke alarms in every occupied dwelling under Sec. 11-258. Multifamily apartment owners…

Rockville's adopted residential code sets exact smoke-alarm locations for one- and two-family homes -- every bedroom…

The Livability Code requires at least one smoke detector in every sleeping area of a structure, wired or installed to…

In unincorporated Wicomico County, a basement may not be used as a habitable sleeping room unless it meets § 160-46's…

Wicomico County's Fire Prevention Code bans above-ground storage of liquefied petroleum gas and other compressed gases…

Annapolis regulates residential propane and LP-gas installations through NFPA 58 (2020 Edition), which the city has…

Anne Arundel County requires propane containers holding 100 pounds or more of water capacity to carry a permanent…

Carroll County requires every propane installation, from home-fill cylinders to fixed LP tanks, to meet NFPA 58 (2020…

Residential propane storage follows the International Fire Code, adopted by Howard County through Fire Prevention Code…

Montgomery County caps indoor LP-gas storage in residential buildings at two small ICC-DOT cylinders (2.5 lb water…

Prince George's County keeps liquid petroleum gas storage outside living spaces. Sec. 11-263 requires customer supply…

Rockville sets no numeric propane storage limit of its own: it adopts NFPA 58, the Liquefied Petroleum Gas Code, 2017…