Outdoor burning is prohibited in all areas of the State,
except as follows:
A.
Permissible Open Burning With Permit. When not prohibited by local
ordinances the following types of burning are permissible if a permit has been
obtained from the Town Forest Fire Warden, forest ranger, or local fire
prevention official having jurisdiction over the location where the fire is to
be set, so long as the burning is conducted according to the terms and
conditions of such permit and provided no nuisance is created.
NOTE: Any kindling or use of out-of-door fires is regulated
by the Department of Conservation, Maine Forest Service. Any requirements or
conditions of issuance of a fire permit must be in accordance with Title 12,
Chapter 807 - Forest Fire Control, Subchapter IV - Regulation of Open Burning,
Article II Out-of-Door Fires, Sections 9321-9324 and Title 25, Chapter 317 -
Preventative Measures and Restrictions, sec. 2436-A.
(1) Recreational campfires kindled when the
ground is not covered by snow;
(2)
Fires in conjunction with holiday and festive celebration, pursuant to Section
2(A)(5) of this rule;
(3) Burning
of solid or liquid fuels and structures for the purpose of research or bona
fide instruction and training of municipal or volunteer firefighters pursuant
to Maine Revised Statutes Title 26, section 2102 and industrial fire fighters
in methods of fighting fires when conducted under the direct control and
supervision of qualified instructors and with a written objective for the
training. For purposes of this section, "qualified instructor" means the fire
chief or designee or a fire-fighting instructor. Structures burned for
instructional purposes must first be emptied of waste materials that are not
part of the training objective.
(4)
Burning for agricultural purposes which include but are not limited to open
burning of blueberry fields, potato tops, hayfields and prescribed burning for
timberland management.
(5)
Out-of-door burning of wood wastes and painted and unpainted wood from
demolition debris in the open, or in an incinerator with a primary chamber
volume no greater than 133 cubic feet or 1,000 gallons that is not licensed by
the Department of Environmental Protection. For purposes of this chapter, the
term "wood wastes" means brush, stumps, lumber, bark, wood chips, shavings,
slabs, edgings, slash, sawdust and wood from production rejects that are not
mixed with other solid or liquid waste, and "lumber" means material that is
entirely made of wood and is free from metal, plastics, coatings and chemical
treatments.
(6) Open burning of
leaves, brush, deadwood and tree cuttings accrued from normal property
maintenance by the individual landowner or lessee of the land unless expressly
prohibited by municipal ordinance.
(7) Burning on site for the disposal of wood
wastes and painted and unpainted wood from construction and demolition debris
generated from the clearing of any land or by the erection, modification,
maintenance, demolition or construction of any highway, railroad, power line,
communication line, pipeline, building or development.
(8) Burning of vegetative growth for
hazardous abatement purposes, such as, but not limited to, the burning of grass
fields.
(9) Burning for the
containment or control of spills of gasoline, kerosene, heating oil or similar
petroleum product.
(10) The burning
of wood wastes and painted and unpainted wood from construction and demolition
debris at solid waste facilities in accordance with a facility license issued
pursuant to Maine's Solid Waste Management Rules, 06-096 CMR 400 to
409.
(11) The burning of empty
containers, including fiberboard boxes and paper bags, previously containing
explosives and being disposed of in accordance with the provisions of Maine
Revised Statutes Title 25, section 2472.
(12) Explosives being disposed of under the
direct supervision and control of the State Fire Marshal
NOTE: Although this rule does not require the separation of
painted and unpainted wood from demolition debris, Maine law requires that "A
person engaged in any renovation, remodeling, maintenance or repair project
involving lead-based paint ...shall take reasonable precautions to prevent the
release of lead to the environment, including the cleanup, removal and
appropriate disposal of all visible lead-based paint debris generated by the
project." (Title 38 MRSA §1296)
NOTE: Any open burning occurring at a municipal solid waste
disposal site must be conducted in accordance with those forest fire prevention
measures specified in Title 12, Chapter 807 - Forest Fire Control, Subchapter
IV - Regulation of Open Burning, Article I - Dumps, Sections 9301 -
9304.
