Search for a fire pit and you get photographs of a crackling wood fire in a ring of stone. In Stittsville, Kanata and Barrhaven, that picture runs into a rule most people do not hear about until after they have bought the kit: on a typical suburban lot, a wood fire is not allowed.
That does not mean no fire pit. It means the first decision is made by a tape measure and the City’s eligibility map, not by the catalogue. Here is how the rules work, what the realistic options are on a suburban lot, and how to build a fire feature that is still sound after ten Ottawa winters.
The rule that decides it: wood fires and the 30 m clearance
The City of Ottawa’s Open Air Fire Permits brochure is short and clear:
- Every open-air fire needs a permit, including backyard fireplaces, chimineas and campfires.
- Permits are only available in certain areas, based on population density and average lot size. The City’s eligibility look-up tells you whether your address qualifies.
- All open-air fires must be at least 30 m from any building, hedge, fence, overhead wiring or highway, 25 m from another open-air fire and 15 m from any other combustible material.
- A campfire is limited to 60 cm wide by 50 cm high, and can only burn untreated wood. Fire bans apply to permit holders too.
The City’s page on outdoor fireplaces and campfires adds that open-air fires are considered unsafe in most urban areas, and that outdoor fireplaces are not permitted in urban areas.
Now picture the 30 m. That is longer than most suburban backyards are deep, and the house, the fence and the neighbour’s cedar hedge all count. On a standard lot in Stittsville’s subdivisions, in Kanata Lakes, Bridlewood or Morgan’s Grant, or in Half Moon Bay or Stonebridge in Barrhaven, there is no spot that clears it. A wood-burning fire pit there is not a design choice, it is a by-law problem waiting for a neighbour’s complaint.
Where wood can work. The larger rural lots on the edges of all three communities, and further out in places like Carp and Richmond, are a different story. Some of them are eligible and have the room. If yours might be one, check the address look-up first, then measure the 30 m from the house, hedges and fences before choosing a location.
The realistic option on a suburban lot: gas and propane
The City does not require a permit for outdoor natural gas, propane or ethanol fireplaces that are ULC or CSA approved for use in Canada, kept at a safe clearance from combustibles, refuelled according to the manufacturer’s instructions and never used to burn wood or other solid material. They are also outside temporary fire bans, which have shut down wood fires across the city in dry summers.
So in practice, a fire feature in a Stittsville, Kanata or Barrhaven backyard is almost always gas or propane. The choice between them is a construction decision as much as a preference:
Natural gas. It never runs out and costs less per hour to run. It needs a buried gas line from the house, and the connection has to be made by a certified gas technician. The cheapest time to trench that line is while the patio is being excavated. Retrofitting it through a finished patio means lifting pavers.
Propane. No line, no trenching, and a freestanding fire table can move. You will be swapping tanks, and the tank has to be stored the way the appliance’s instructions say. Propane is heavier than air, so an enclosure built around a tank or a burner needs the ventilation openings the manufacturer specifies. That detail decides how a built-in surround is designed.
Built-in or freestanding. A freestanding fire table is simple and portable. A built-in gas fire feature, with a stone or block surround and a burner pan, becomes part of the patio and is the one that makes a backyard look finished. The burner, the shut-off and the access for service get designed into it from the start.
If you are on an eligible lot: building a wood fire pit that lasts
For the rural properties that qualify, a wood-burning pit has its own construction rules.
- A steel liner or firebrick inside. Ordinary concrete wall block is not made to sit in a fire. Heat makes it spall and crack. A proper fire pit puts a steel ring or refractory brick between the fire and the block.
- Drainage at the bottom. A pit that holds water freezes, and ice inside a masonry ring breaks it apart. The bottom drains into the gravel base below.
- A non-combustible surround. The seating area around a wood pit should be pavers or stone, not grass, mulch or a wood deck.
- Size it to the permit. A campfire built under an Ottawa permit has to stay within 60 cm by 50 cm, so there is no point building a pit for a bonfire.
The part that is the same for every fire feature: the base
Gas or wood, built-in or freestanding on a patio, a fire feature fails the same way a patio does: from the ground up. In the clay soils common across Stittsville and Barrhaven, frost heave lifts anything set on topsoil or a thin layer of stone, and a fire feature that tilts is both ugly and, with gas, a problem.
A built-in fire feature sits on the same excavated, compacted granular base as the patio around it, drained so water does not sit beneath it. Our guide to patio base depth in Ottawa explains how deep that base needs to go and why. Before any digging, a utility locate through Ontario One Call is required by law, and it matters more than usual when you are about to add a gas line to the yard.
Since March 1, 2026, the City of Ottawa has also required a hardscaping contractor licence for businesses installing patios, walkways, steps and retaining walls. If your fire feature is part of a new patio, ask the contractor to show theirs.
Designing the fire area
A fire feature is a room, not an object. The things that make it work:
- Seating space. Chairs need to pull back from the heat. For six people, plan a circle of roughly 3.5 to 4 m across, paved or gravelled, with the fire at the centre.
- Separate it from dining. The dining table and the fire area do different jobs. Two connected zones work better than one large slab, which is how we lay out most backyards. Our outdoor living guide for Stittsville goes through planning the zones together.
- Wind and view. Put the fire where it is sheltered from the prevailing wind and where you can see it from the house, so it gets used in October as well as July.
- Clearances. Every gas fire appliance comes with minimum clearances to combustibles, overhead structures and the house. Pergolas and overhangs are where these get missed.
- Lighting and a path. Low-voltage lighting on the steps and path to the fire area makes it safe after dark.
Fire features we build in Stittsville, Kanata and Barrhaven
Most fire features we build are part of a larger backyard project: an interlock patio with a built-in gas fire feature, a separate fire zone stepped down from the dining area, or a seating wall around a fire table. On the larger rural lots, we build wood-burning pits where the permit and the 30 m allow.
We design and build across Stittsville, Kanata and Barrhaven. The full scope of our patio and outdoor living work is on our hardscaping page.
Book a free on-site estimate. We will check your lot against the City’s fire rules, plan the gas route if you need one, and send a written, fixed-price scope for the fire feature and the patio around it.
Published October 11, 2026 by ALM Construction & Landscaping. General information for Ottawa-area homeowners, not a substitute for the City's determination on your specific project.