Wood Burning Fire Pits

What to Know Before You Buy

Five decisions shape a wood burning fire pit.

• Wood or gas. A gas fire feature is no place for wood: Prism, The Outdoor Plus, HPC and Firegear all say not to burn solid fuel in their gas fire features. Gas vs wood fire pit compares heat, cleanup and local burn rules.
• Size. Ohio Flame's pits run 24 to 48 inches across, and the pit needs room for seats and for the distance the code asks. See how big a fire pit should be.
• Steel and finish. Raw steel develops a patina and can mark light paving. The materials guide covers weathering, staining and care.
• Distance and burn rules. Wood fire rules differ by state, city and air district. The guide on how far a fire pit should be from the house covers distance, burn bans and permits.
• Wood only or convertible. Ohio Flame says its pits are for wood only. A converted pit needs a non-combustible, vented, above-grade enclosure and a gas line that a licensed gas fitter sizes and tests, and the burner kit guide lists the conditions.

Sizes, Output and Fuel

Wood pit makers publish size and weight. Ohio Flame's Patriot page lists diameters from 24 to 48 inches and weights from 46 to 255 pounds, and it gives no heat figure. The fuel is firewood, so there is no burner rating, gas line or ignition to compare.

A smokeless pit still burns wood. USDA Forest Service lab tests of two smokeless pits and a campground pit averaged 2.2 grams of fine particulate per kilogram of firewood, about 80 percent below the 11.3 grams EPA's national inventory uses for traditional pits. The three pits emitted about the same. The burn rules in the last section regulate by fuel, so a low-smoke pit gets no exemption.

Who Makes Them

These makers' own documents show they build wood-burning pits or inserts for them. The order is not a ranking.

Ohio Flame, of Columbiana, Ohio, makes wood-burning steel pits, bowls and rings. Every product on its site burns wood, and its Gas Burners collection was marked coming soon, with no products, on 2026-10-08. Its lifetime warranty on registered steel fire bowls covers structural integrity and welds, and it excludes screens, grates, paint and finishes.

Prism Hardscapes, of Cerritos, California, makes the Falo 21 and Falo 33, portable wood-burning bowls with a glass fiber reinforced concrete shell and a high-heat powder-coated steel pan.

Firegear, of Huntington, Indiana, makes the LUME, a stainless insert that it describes as turning an ordinary wood-burning fire pit into a cleaner-burning one. It is the one wood product in its line.

Rules and Placement

The model fire code treats a wood fire as a recreational fire, kept 25 feet from a structure or combustible material, or as a portable outdoor fireplace, kept 15 feet away, with an exception for one- and two-family dwellings. A wood fire must be attended until it is out. Whether a steel fire bowl counts as one or the other is a question for your fire official.

The state pages in the fire code library show how that plays out. Arizona, California, Nevada, Oregon and Utah each list 25 feet for a wood fire to a structure, California's where a city or county adopts the fire code section. Washington's state outdoor burning rule sets 50 feet, above the 25 foot fire code minimum. Colorado sets the distance locally.

Air rules add a second layer. The South Coast Air Quality Management District's Rule 445 bars operating a wood-burning device, burn bowls included, on a declared No-Burn day, and Denver treats open burning, including wood fire pits, as unlawful without a written permit from its Department of Public Health and Environment.

For placement, Ohio Flame recommends flagstone or pavers, because ash falls from the rain drain and the steel can transfer rust to lighter paving, and it says not to place its pits on wooden decks. Let ashes cool, then keep them in a covered metal container at least 10 feet from the home, never in a trash can. The U.S. Fire Administration advises a metal screen over a wood-burning fire. The clearance checker gives the International Fire Code distance for a wood fire, and your fire department and air district have the last word.