Back Yard Fire Pits

[MichaelBikel]

Not too familiar with the law about backyard/campfires in Connecticut and I have a dilemma. The portion of the yard that I intend to could be described as deciduous forrest. I often pitch a tent or hang a hammoc there but fires are kept to the grassy areas of the yard. Anybody know if a campfire on you own property under trees is legal? There is also a small section set back that is classified as "wildlife preserve" and i'm thinking that could be an issue.

at the moment this is what i have to go by:
http://www.ct.gov/deep/cwp/view.asp?a=2684&q=531300

Any residents or non-res with any info please chime in!

 

[metalmagpie]

Talk to your local fire station. They will know all the laws.

 

[boomer12831]

In NY there are burn bans in the spring usually until May 15th, until the ground cover greens up. They have extended it in dry seasons and it is usually county by county but I do think it has been statewide on various years. I'm sure some of the Firefighters on here can tell you. I have heard that if you are using it for cooking, that they cannot stop you, but I do not know if that is a fact or opinion.

 

[SVE Performance]

Best I can tell you is to keep a cooking grate and a pack of hot dogs next to the fire .When the local fire department shows up and they see the grate and Hot dogs they will turn around and leave . Bill

 

[ForceFed70]

This is controlled at the city/county level. Calling you local FD is good advice.

Generally the city/county will have a bylaw(s) around backyard campfires that set regulations like "is it allowed at all, how big the fire can be, permits required, etc" and they'll usually follow forestry fire bans. If forestry bans campfires in the local wilderness, then the city/county enacts a ban for backyard fires at the same time.

Long story short - rules vary wildly by city/county and you'll need to ask someone local for info.

 

[xyster101]

I will say that IF you put a camp fire with deciduous leaves with in 50 ft above it the leaves will die. Then you will not have branches over your fire anymore.
A fire dept will tell you to have no branches above the fire ring. If you live in a town usually you are limited to a "cooking" fire and smaller size.
Call the FD and ask them.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[MichaelBikel]

Awesome, thanks guys!

 

[Jazz1]

Talk to your local fire station. They will know all the laws.

If this is the case your fire department should also have a website,,maybe...with updates if there is a fire ban due to dry climate, forest fires etc. That's the method they use in my neck of the woods

 

[RVDan]

Anybody know if a campfire on you own property under trees is legal?

Any residents or non-res with any info please chime in!

I don't understand why any non residents information will be relevant to you.

At my house, absolutely no fires, no wood fired barbecue, and no wood stoves. Charcoal barbecue allowed. Trees are irrelevant.

 

[dbabicky]

I don't understand why any non residents information will be relevant to you.

At my house, absolutely no fires, no wood fired barbecue, and no wood stoves. Charcoal barbecue allowed. Trees are irrelevant.

Where do you live ? Communist North Korea ?

 

[kmacht]

Down in Colchester ct you are allowed to have a small fire for cooking or warming. Anything bigger like burning brush requires a permit. There are no restrictions on placement for the cooking fire but there are for burning brush.

Keith

 

[Outlander]

My FD inspects annually without me asking and tells me if my outdoor fireplace conforms. One year I had to trim a branch that was too close. Checking your FD is the right answer.

 

[Showkey]

Down in Colchester ct you are allowed to have a small fire for cooking or warming. Anything bigger like burning brush requires a permit. There are no restrictions on placement for the cooking fire but there are for burning brush.

Keith

So I guess if you burn your brush slowly and cook some marshmallows while doing it .........your all good

Love to see the definition of small fire vs big fire

 

[Richard Cranium]

I am sure it is different in each location. Around here it is ashless fires only. But if it is a warming fire any thing is allowed.

 

[ForceFed70]

Just because we are sharing - in my location in Canada
Backyard fire pits are allowed with the following restrictions:
- Technically only allowed for cooking or warmth. Everyone keeps a bag of marshmallows nearby.
- Maximum 50cm (2') diameter.
- Must have 5 gallons of water in a bucket nearby or a garden hose.
- Minimum 5 meters (15') from any combustible material/structure.
- Only clean dry wood allowed. No yard waste, no smoky fires.
- Burning of yard waste/brush only allowed on properties with farm zoning/status. Permit still required, and you must call a number on the day you wish to burn to confirm it's OK (they check weather conditions, air quality, etc.).

 

[abachman]

Here in Illinois, suburb of Chicago, we are required to have the fire in a container with a lid. These are commonly sold locally and look somewhat like the round Weber grills but have a mesh screen that fits on top, with the lid on top of that.

 

[matt_i]

Imo best plan even once approved is to keep pressurized water ( a garden hose ) at the site of the fire with a valve at the end. This way there is no running around trying to figure out what to do, just turn on the water and deal with any issue.

 

[Reg1952]

Just a note of caution for anyone using an old wash machine drum for a fire pit. Some of them have a area at the top that has lead shot in it for balancing. It is sealed and when heated will explode and spray out the hot lead shot. Seen it and got hot lead shot rained down on us all seating around it.

 

[Outlander]

Just because we are sharing - in my location in Canada

BC, Canada - I'd embrace all regulations due to potential for forest fires!

 

[EOC_Jason]

I built my fire pit from some unused boulders that the home developer I guess dug up while clearing land for new homes... Dug down and put like 6" of sand with a layer of bricks on top (both free leftovers from new home construction in the area). Was a major PITA to move those boulders into place. For a while I used it just like that, but then they were bricking some new homes next to me and at the end of the day they would just dump the leftover mortar on the ground, so I scooped it up and mortared in my firepit.

Got a fireplace grate on clearance at HD for like $5...

That was kind of the only location I could put it. There is a gas line & phone line that run across the back of the yard so I couldn't put it closer to the fence.

 

[ForceFed70]

BC, Canada - I'd embrace all regulations due to potential for forest fires!

Heck yeah! The Okanagan Mountain Park fire still haunts me. One of the scariest and most stressful events of my life. I walked out of work one day, city was tinder dry, smoke was so thick you could hardly breathe and it was blocking out the sun and making it dark out at 4pm on a sunny day. Raining from the sky were huge still glowing embers EVERYWHERE. Some the size of 8x11 sheets of paper. Whole city got evacuated 30 min later. After seeing those embers raining down I was convinced I was never coming home and the whole city was going to burn. Still amazes me that we only lost a small portion of the city. Hell - firetrucks burnt!

Down south they get tornados - here we get forest fires.

Doesn't take too many evacuations before you become very vigilant. And if it's not me keeping a close eye, it's the neighbors. Nobody burns when they enact the ban in the summer (bans happen almost every summer).

 

[dbabicky]

Around here you have to get an annual burning permit,(free), when ever there is no snow on the ground. That allows you to burn garbage in a covered barrel and allows a fire pit of no more than 6 feet in diameter. You're supposed to call the local DNR office,(BLM), every day you burn prior to burning, to get the recent fire danger levels/burning restrictions.
If you are going to burn big brush piles and such,(over 6 feet in diameter), you are supposed to get a "Special Burning Permit" for that.
I just have a burning barrel and a 6 foot pit surrounded by rocks.

 

[Jazz1]

I use 36" piece of natural gas cutoff.

 

[LS6 Tommy]

Best I can tell you is to keep a cooking grate and a pack of hot dogs next to the fire .When the local fire department shows up and they see the grate and Hot dogs they will turn around and leave . Bill

X2. Burning anything other than for cooking is illegal in NJ, even though I and many of my friends have pits or chimineas. I've never had food out on display and never had an issue, but YMMV.

We have little campfires at the Lake every now and then...





Tommy

 

[raffaelli]

In Dutchess County NY, ( I think it applies to the entire state), no burning till May 15th. In m Town, we need a burn permit. It is $35 a year and obtained from the fire department. They give us a pamphlet about fire safety and rules of burning...cant leave unattended, must a water source etc.

 

[PCustoms]

Sit ting out by kine right now, burning a mix of 2x4 demo debris and tree trimmings from last year. Pretty damn cathartic watching the fire and listening to the river as the sun goes down.

Only issue i's the cinder block fireplace is crumbling and Wil cave in soon. Need to work on that, but this was here when I bought the place last june and it the 1st fire of the year....

 

[Jazz1]

Today my fire pit as another round of "sprinter" arrives.

 

[onewheat]

I have a 3' end cap off a boiler tank. It's 1/4" thick steel with a drain hole in the center, 3 - 4x4 legs and a couple handles welded on. I can pretty much burn anything I want, but normally just some firewood and marshmallows.

 

[ducksface]

Any size you want.
But sometimes our restrictions are so tight you're not allowed to smoke cigarettes in your car.
I always call it in, no permit required, and I seldom burn unless snow on the ground or a soaking rain the very day of the burn.

 

[seagravedriver]

Best I can tell you is to keep a cooking grate and a pack of hot dogs next to the fire .When the local fire department shows up and they see the grate and Hot dogs they will turn around and leave . Bill

I have been in the fire service, both vol. and paid for many years. In the county I work in, a pack of hot dogs will get you out of nothing. A burn ban is a burn ban. While fire pits are legal here, they do not have to be for cooking. They can be for fun or whatever. BUT, if there is a "burn ban", you cannot have certain types of fires, or in extreme cases, any sort of fire, even wood stoves or inserts. The burn bans are posted when there is an air pollution problem, or lack of rain makes fire danger to high. Some areas of the 150 square miles of the district I work for allow land clearing burns with permits. Other small cities within the district only allow small "camp fires". Puget Sound Air Pollution Control sets the rules and the fines around here. Check websites and have fun. Your local fire marshal would have the best information, or that's the way it is around here in WA State.

During the summer months, we probably get dispatched to 6 to 10 burn complaints a day. One of those will try the marshmallow or hotdog story. We don't go out looking for cooking or campfires, but if we are called, we have to go. Unfortunately, it is usually a neighbor that is mad at another neighbor.

 

[ForceFed70]

Rules in your area are a little different.

Around here you can only have a campfire for purpose of cooking food or warmth. Unless it's darn cold out, the FD won't accept the warmth argument so everyone has a pack of dogs or mallows sitting nearby. Tho I must admit - I burn as often as once a week and have never had a visit from the FD.

If there's a burn ban on (Usually all of July and August) no campfires of any type allowed. Tho I think those propane "campfires" are still allowed.

 

[DCarr2]

burning anyt kind of fire under a tree is bad news.

 

[MichaelBikel]

I built my fire pit from some unused boulders that the home developer I guess dug up while clearing land for new homes... Dug down and put like 6" of sand with a layer of bricks on top (both free leftovers from new home construction in the area). Was a major PITA to move those boulders into place. For a while I used it just like that, but then they were bricking some new homes next to me and at the end of the day they would just dump the leftover mortar on the ground, so I scooped it up and mortared in my firepit.

Got a fireplace grate on clearance at HD for like $5...

That was kind of the only location I could put it. There is a gas line & phone line that run across the back of the yard so I couldn't put it closer to the fence.

Wow that looks great! right now mine is in the wooded part of the yard so I just have a perimeter of fairly loose stones. It should suit me for a while, until I decide to spend a little time on it.

 

[NORTON'S SHOP]

If you're able to have a fire pit and would like to build one, check out the one that
f150skidoo built. Awesome piece of work!!

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=356105

 

[4 FN 27]

This is the Big Pit. 72 x 96 x 48 deep. Living in the woods we get a lot of deadfall. Already filled it a burned 3 time this year.

We can load it up, burning down and dump a big stump in and it will go for days with the door almost closed. No need to worry about the wind blowing embers around. Put the door all the way down and the fire goes out.

Works great.

 

[MichaelBikel]

Wow, definitely some awesome pits in here!!!! i ended up using rocks I dug up, maybe eventually ill weld one if i find some scrap.

I guess since we're in the realm of fires & wood, feel free to show off your wood sheds! I finally made a shed this past winter and have already outgrown it. I'm thinking I have to make another but this time around I have to work in some storage for my smaller pieces and kindling.

 

[royce]

Here is one I built for my daughter

Royce

 

[JPinSTL]

In MO we sometimes have a burn ban imposed for late Summer if it's dry. But then it is too hot/humid then for anyone to want a fire pit going. I'm rural so I do not have a HOA to contend with or city ordinances. The county does enforce the burn ban.

Our sits on a chunk of old sidewalk pad near a walnut tree but not directly under it. Never had an issue with leaves dying off or grass getting scorched.

I build these fire pits from old propane tank heads. 1/4" thick, heavy, last forever.

 

[Carguy99]

Made this a few years ago. Natural gas. We use it all the time. About a year ago this ****** neighbor, that has moved,called about my fire being to close to the house. It's supposed to be 25 ft for a wood fire. Officer apologized to me and the fire chief sitting next to me.
We have regulations but as long as nobody complains. It all good.

 

[Jay H 237]

I'm in Watertown and as long as it's contained and not 'smokey' no problem. Don't know the full regs off hand but limited to a 3 or 4' circle. Doing a large brush pile you call and get a permit, it's free but they just want to know who's burning in case someone calls/complains.