Fire Regulations in Tennessee (2026)

Hendersonville's amended residential code requires outdoor gas fire pits and gas appliances to be listed for outdoor…

Backyard campfires and bonfires are allowed in Knox County as recreational fires without an open-burning permit. Keep…

A legal Murfreesboro 'recreational fire' can't be built for trash: the open pile of fuel is capped at three feet across…

Metro Nashville allows small recreational fires and outdoor fireplaces countywide, but recreational fires need a…

Backyard burning is allowed in Rutherford County for natural yard debris only. From October 15 to May 15 you need a…

Sumner County allows recreational backyard fires and fire pits across its suburban and rural neighborhoods. A contained…

Williamson County allows recreational backyard fires and fire pits in this affluent Nashville suburb. A contained fire…

Chattanooga exempts small cooking, ceremonial, and recreational fires, including backyard fire pits, from its…

Cooking fires, barbecues, outdoor fireplaces and ceremonial or recreational burning don't need a permit in Clarksville…

Memphis Code § 9-12-4(B)(1) lets residents burn for cooking, ceremonial, recreational or comfort-heating purposes…

Tennessee allows consumer fireworks (DOT 1.4G) statewide, sold only by State Fire Marshal-permitted retailers to buyers…

Franklin bans the manufacture, sale and storage of fireworks across the entire city, and discharging them anywhere in…

Knoxville bans possessing, manufacturing, storing, selling, or using fireworks within city limits unless the fire…

Metro Nashville bans selling, possessing for sale, or using any fireworks anywhere in Davidson County, unless the fire…

Hendersonville bans shooting or exploding fireworks anywhere in the city without a City Fire Marshal permit, though…

Knox County bans fireworks, firecrackers and torpedoes in every county park under Sec. 27-3(4) of the Code of…

Murfreesboro allows consumer fireworks only on five holiday dates each year, with strict hour windows, and requires a…

Fireworks sales tents in unincorporated Rutherford County need a Board of Zoning Appeals temporary use permit under…

Shelby County bans the sale or use of fireworks outright except where state law authorizes it. A public fireworks…

Williamson County confines fireworks sales stands to a narrow window: a Temporary Use Permit is good for only 15 days…

Chattanooga City Code § 25-79(a)(10) makes it unlawful to set off fireworks after 11:30 p.m. in residential zones…

Memphis requires a Fire Prevention Bureau permit for any fireworks, pyrotechnic, or flame-effect display, charging $25…

Clarksville has no defensible-space program. Brush is handled two ways: Section 7-208 sets hard clearance and…

Tennessee sets no wildfire defensible-space or brush-clearance mandate for homeowners in Rutherford County. Overgrowth…

Unincorporated Shelby County property owners must cut rank weeds, grasses, and underbrush the county health department…

Tennessee Division of Forestry requires burn permits during wildfire season for any outdoor burning of leaves, brush…

Knoxville prohibits burning solid waste in open ground fires, barrels, or open receptacles anywhere in the city, unless…

Open burning of brush, leaves, and yard waste is prohibited in Davidson County under an EPA regulation in effect since…

Open burning in Shelby County is prohibited except by permit. The Memphis and Shelby County Health Department Air…

Chattanooga bans open burning citywide except under a paid Rule 6.3 permit, a narrow Rule 6.4 exemption, or Rule 6.5…

Clarksville's fire code makes it unlawful to burn refuse, garbage, or salvage materials in the open. Cooking fires…

Franklin bans open burning across the entire city limits by default, carving out only a short list of named exceptions…

Hendersonville bans burning garbage, refuse, rubbish, swill, or ashes anywhere in the City except at a designated…

Memphis Code § 9-12-4(A) bans open burning of refuse, garbage, trade waste, trees, limbs, brush and salvage materials…

Murfreesboro bans open burning of any kind unless it's approved under the fire code, and the fire code official can…

Open burning of yard brush is banned county-wide from May 1 through Sept. 30. During the October–April season you need…

Knox County restricts open burning through its Air Quality Management program. A residential land-management permit…

In Rutherford County you may burn natural wood debris outdoors, but from October 15 through May 15 you must first get a…

Outdoor burning in Sumner County requires a Tennessee Division of Forestry permit from October 15 to May 15 for leaf…

Outdoor burning in Williamson County requires a Tennessee Division of Forestry permit from October 15 to May 15 for…

Tennessee Division of Forestry has statewide authority over wildfire prevention, declares hazard seasons, and may issue…

Tennessee maps no fire hazard severity zones and Clarksville adopts no wildland-urban interface code. What governs is…

Chattanooga's property maintenance code mandates smoke alarms outside sleeping areas, in every bedroom and on every…

Since April 1, 1984, no Clarksville dwelling, from single-family houses to mobile homes to boarding-house rooms, can be…

Every Franklin short-term vacation rental must have UL 217-listed smoke alarms in each sleeping area, in every room…

Hendersonville's fire code amendment requires an NFPA 72 fire alarm system in new buildings, with signals reported to a…

Knox County's 2018 Life Safety Code amendments require a fire alarm detection system with smoke or heat detectors in…

Knoxville's amended residential code excuses existing homes from hardwiring and interconnecting smoke alarms during…

City Code § 9-44-6 requires an approved UL- or FM-listed smoke detector in every existing apartment, condo, dormitory…

Metro Nashville's Fire Prevention Code requires smoke alarms in every bedroom, in the hallway outside sleeping areas…

Shelby County requires every short-term rental unit to have UL 217-listed smoke alarms in each sleeping area and along…

Tennessee makes the 2008 NFPA 58 Liquefied Petroleum Gas Code its statewide minimum standard for propane storage and…

Bulk storage of liquefied petroleum gas is flatly prohibited within Murfreesboro's Central Fire District, the historic…

Franklin will not let anyone establish, build or enlarge a plant or place of business that manufactures, distributes or…

Knox County's fire code requires propane cylinders, gas meters and electrical devices to sit at least 15 feet from a…

Knoxville's fire prevention bureau permits and licenses aboveground propane and fuel storage tanks over 60 gallons…

Memphis's fire code amendments in City Code § 9-36-4 (adopting the 2021 International Fire Code) put the owner of any…

Metro Nashville regulates residential propane storage through the 2024 edition of NFPA 58, adopted wholesale into the…

Propane (LP-gas) storage in unincorporated Shelby County is regulated by the adopted 2021 International Fire Code…