Open air fires - rules and permits

 

Fire Type

Description

Conditions you
need to follow for the fire type to be considered authorised

Restricted
season

Prohibited
season

Gas-operated appliances

Manufactured gas-operated appliances, such as barbeques, gas outdoor fireplaces and outdoor gas heaters.

Find out more about the safe use of:

Authorised
fire type

Authorised
fire type

Charcoal
barbeques
or grills

Barbeques or grills that use either charcoal briquettes or natural lump charcoal as their fuel source.

  • Don’t use on an apartment balcony, deck, under a roof overhang or within other enclosed areas.
  • You must have a suitable way to extinguish the fire within easy reach -  a maximum of 5 metres away.
  • You must not leave unsupervised while burning.
  • If you cannot meet these conditions, you must apply for a permit.

Authorised fire type

Authorised fire type

Open top liquid fuel cooker

Examples include (but are not limited to) portable smokers.

These are usually small portable cooking devices that are liquid-fueled with an open fuel container either under or in the cooking device.

  • Must be on a non-combustible area/base.
  • You must have a suitable way to extinguish the fire within easy reach a maximum of 5 metres away.
  • Don’t light your fire within 3 metres of any part of a building, hedge, shelter belt or any other combustible material.
  • You must not leave unsupervised while burning.
  • If you cannot meet these conditions, you must apply for a permit.

Authorised fire type

Authorised fire type

Non-pressurised liquid-fueled heaters

Examples include (but are not limited to) frost pot, smudge pot, diesel heater.

Usually fueled by diesel, vegetable oil, kerosene or waste oil.

 
  • Must be at least 3 metres clear of any of any part of a building, hedge, shelter belt or any other combustible material.
  • Must be placed on a non-combustible surface, not directly on grass or wooden decks.
  • You must not use the heater in small, confined areas.
  • If refuelling, ensure heater has cooled down before refilling.
  • You must not leave unsupervised while burning.
  • If you cannot meet these conditions, you must apply for a permit.

Authorised fire type

Authorised fire type

Permanent outdoor fireplace

Wood-fired pizza oven/wood oven

 

Purpose-built or manufactured woodburning fireplace/wood oven with an open front and a vertical smoke vent/chimney.

Generally constructed of concrete, concrete blocks, stone, or bricks, fixed in place (not mobile/movable).

Usually in home outdoor entertaining areas

 
  • Must have a non-combustible hearth or base that extends a minimum of 500 mm either side of the left and right edges and a minimum of 1 m from the front edge of the fire box. This is to stop any burning material falling from the fire box landing onto anything combustible.
  • Smoke vent/chimneys must have a purpose-built manufactured cap, or maximum 5 mm steel mesh fitted in the top to stop any hot ash or embers from escaping.
  • Firewood storage must be in areas not affected by heat from the fire and clear of any possible hot ash or ember-affected areas.
  • You must have a suitable way to extinguish the fire within easy reach a maximum of 5 metres away.
  • You must not leave unsupervised while burning, or
  • It must have a solid or mesh screen/door, that prevents any burning material from escaping the fire box
  • Fireplaces with external construction made of steel must be at least 1 metre clear of any of any part of a building, hedge, shelter belt or any other combustible material.
  • If you cannot meet these conditions, you must apply for a permit.

Authorised fire type

Authorised fire type

Movable/ portable free-standing front-loading fireplace

 

Examples include (but are not limited to) chiminea.

A freestanding front-loading fireplace or oven usually with a bulbous body – usually has a vertical smoke vent or chimney

 
  • Don’t light your fire within three metres of any part of a building, hedge, shelter belt or any other combustible material.
  • You must have a suitable way to extinguish that will easily reach it, a maximum of five metres away.
  • You must not leave unsupervised while burning or
  • It must have a solid or mesh screen/door that prevents any burning material from escaping the fire box.
  • If you cannot meet these conditions, you must apply for a permit.

Authorised fire type

Authorised fire type

Cultural cooking fires

Examples include hāngï, umu, and lovo.

  • Your fire area must be less than 4 square metres.
  • Don’t light your fire within 5 metres of any part of a building, hedge, shelter belt or any other combustible material.
  • You must have a suitable way to extinguish it within easy reach a maximum of 5 metres from your cultural fire.
  • You must not leave the fire unsupervised while burning.
  • On completion of cooking or the purpose required for cooking food the fires must be extinguished.
  • If you cannot meet these conditions, you must apply for a permit.
  • Find out more about the safe use of cultural cooking fires.

Authorised fire type

Authorised fire type

Braziers

A container for hot coals – usually an upright standing or hanging metal bowl or box.

  • Your fire area must be less than one square metre.
  • Where hot embers/ash are able to escape, there must be a non-combustible base/tray that will contain these hot embers/ash to prevent any risk of fire escaping.
  • Don’t light your fire within three metres of any part of a building, hedge, shelter belt or any other combustible material.
  • You must have a suitable way to extinguish it within easy reach a maximum of 5 metres from your brazier or fire pit/bowl.
  • You must not leave unsupervised while burning.
  • If you cannot meet these conditions, you must apply for a permit.

Authorised fire type

Prohibited fire type*

Fire pits/bowls (Recreational)

A pit dug in the ground made from stone, brick or metal or a bowl on an upright stand.

Authorised fire type

Prohibited fire type*

Manufactured or drum incinerators A drum or container, with a mesh or solid lid designed to prevent the escape of hot ash or fire, often with a vertical smoke vent or chimney; designed exclusively for incineration.
  • Don’t light your fire within five metres of any part of a building, hedge, shelter belt or any other combustible material.
  • You must have a suitable way to extinguish it within easy reach – a maximum of 5 metres from your incinerator.
  • Smoke vent/chimneys must have a purpose-built manufactured cap or maximum 5 mm steel mesh fitted in the top to stop any hot ash or embers from escaping.
  • If you cannot meet these conditions, you must apply for a permit.

Authorised fire type

Prohibited fire type*

Campfires

A fire (less than 0.5m diameter x 0.5m height) at a campsite that provides light and warmth, and heat for cooking.

  • You must comply with the conditions on your permit issued by Fire and Emergency New Zealand.
  • Find out more about how to use campfires safely.

Permit required

Prohibited fire type*

Bonfires

A large, but controlled outdoor fire, used for recreation or celebration.

  • You must comply with the conditions on your permit issued by Fire and Emergency New Zealand.
  • Find out about how to use bonfires safely.

Permit required

Prohibited fire type*

Burn piles/pits

Burning cut and stacked vegetation. Includes horticulture branch/piles, offal pits or land clearing heaps for disposing of burnable waste material.

  • You need to comply with the conditions on your permit issued by Fire and Emergency New Zealand.
  • Find out more about how to use burn piles or pits safely.

Permit required

Prohibited fire type*

Crop
residue/ stubble
burns

Burning straw stubble or crop residue on fire that remains after wheat and other grains have been harvested.

Permit required

Prohibited fire type*

Broadcast
land clearing
burns

Fire applied generally to most or all of an area within well-defined boundaries to remove grass, scrub or forest cutover.

  • You must comply with the conditions on your permit issued by Fire and Emergency New Zealand.
  • Find out about how to carry out land-clearning burns safely.

Permit required

Prohibited fire type*

Windrows

Burning of vegetation that is placed in long narrow rows, generally as a result of forest or scrub clearing.

  • You must comply with the conditions on your permit issued by Fire and Emergency New Zealand.
  • Find out about how to carry out pile and windrow burns safely.

Permit required

Prohibited fire type*

Other

Fires not captured in other fire types.

Examples include but are not limited to: fires for biosecurity or public health, planned structure fires.

  • You must comply with the conditions on your permit issued by Fire and Emergency New Zealand.

Permit required

Prohibited fire type*


*Fire and Emergency will only grant permits while a prohibition is in force if:

  • that is necessary to prevent, reduce, or overcome any hazard to life or because of any other serious emergency; or
  • weather or other conditions have temporarily reduced the fire hazard so as to make it apparently safe to light a fire.