Comments on: A Burning Question

By: Dan W.

Dan W. — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 19:03:36 +0000

My wife grew up in a small western PA town and always comments on how she misses the smell of burning leaves in the fall. Still a legal practice there.

By: ljdarten

ljdarten — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 06:02:42 +0000

Here where I am in Michigan, we can burn leaves and other natural stuff, but it can’t get over a certain height unless you get a permit. cant remember the number.

By: Adam

Adam — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 17:12:27 +0000

Unrelated to the burning discussion, but the second panel made me grin. I like that argument.

By: 1415 dr

1415 dr — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 21:15:46 +0000

I asked my local police station (Morrow, Ohio) if it was okay to burn leaves and they told me “as long as you don’t get caught,” so i called the fire department and they told me “as long as no one calls us to put it out.”

By: NoAlias

NoAlias — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 02:19:22 +0000

Relatively rural VA, between Richmond and Norfolk: We can burn anything almost any time. People rarely burn leaves, though, because people rarely rake leaves. We can burn trash, we burn brush, we burn weeds in the ditches. In the spring we have the “4 p.m. burn law” legally restricting fires to after 4:00pm, I think because of winds creating hazard for controlling fires.

By: Keera

Keera — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 17:46:03 +0000

The rule in California is also the rule in Norway. Not that Norway is a US state (though some people over here claim we try to be).

By: AaronB

AaronB — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 16:41:51 +0000

It’s legal in California, at least in rural counties, as long as CalFire hasn’t declared a “no burn day.”

By: Mark

Mark — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 15:03:15 +0000

We can burn here in central MO, without a permit even. We just call the fire department to see if it is a burn day (high winds or dry conditions determine whether it is or not), then leave our name, number, and address so they know where the ‘good’ fires are. Only stipulations are they must be 50′ from any structure, no man-made materials, and they have to be out by dark (or maybe they can’t be started after dark… the wording is vague).
In fact, we’re having a burning this weekend because the high winds of last week blew every single leaf in the neighborhood onto our front porch, literally. They’re probably 2′ deep, if not deeper.

By: Dustin

Dustin — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 13:24:16 +0000

Suburban Georgia (just northeast of Atlanta), you’re allowed to burn leaves (or were when I lived there two years ago), but only during specified times of the year.

By: Marshal

Marshal — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 12:28:35 +0000

I should add that they still clear land with controlled burns around here.
And sometimes they are actually controlled. 8^)