Why the Georgia Forestry Commission issues burn permits.
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The Georgia Forestry Commission (GFC) has the responsibility of issuing permits
for the outdoor burning of natural debris. We follow the Environmental
Protection Division (EPD) Outdoor Burning Rules along with guidelines related
to smoke dispersion, current fire situation and fire danger when issuing outdoor
burning permits.
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The EPD’s Rules for Air Quality Control, chapter 391-3-1, section 5, allows for
the open burning of natural debris. Natural debris is vegetation that grew on the
property.
The “ Georgia Forest Fire Protection Act” requires a permit be obtained from the
GFC for the open burning of any woods, lands, marshes or other flammable
vegetation. This includes the burning of land clearing debris in counties with a
population less than 65,000 based on the most recent census. In counties with a
population above 65,000 land-clearing debris must be burned in a pit with an air
curtain destructor following EPD guidelines but does not require a GFC permit.
Debris piles that are machine piled are considered land clearing. Based on the
most recent census Morgan and Walton County are not required to burn landclearing debris in a pit with an air curtain destructor, this could change in the
future due to population growth in the county.
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The following standards apply to Morgan and Walton County during
the burning season of October 1 – April 30 each year:
GFC standards for issuing burn permits: smoke dispersion and fire
danger.
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The Georgia Forestry Commission has minimum standards for smoke
dispersion that must be met before issuing a burn permit. This is to prevent
having fires burning which produce smoke that could be a nuisance or a
hazard to the public.
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To provide adequate smoke dispersion a minimum mixing height of 500 meters
and a transport wind speed of 4 meters per second must be predicted on our
morning weather forecast.
The mixing height is the amount of vertical movement allowed smoke by the
atmosphere.
The transport wind speed is a measure of how quickly the smoke will move
horizontally.
On rainy, low over-cast, or foggy days when these standards are not met, no
permits will be issued. Rarely do smoke dispersion standards allow for night
burning.
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In cooperation with the EPD we will not issue permits on days when ozone is
predicted to be high (eg. Code orange smog alert).
The Chief Ranger of each county may halt the issuance of burn permits based on
fire danger or fire situation.
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The GFC uses weather information such as temperature, relative humidity, wind
speed and probability of precipitation to predict the fire danger for each day. A
class number from 1 to 5 is assigned based on weather information. On a class 1
day the fire danger is low, on a class 5 day the fire danger is extreme.
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When the fire danger is predicted to be very high (class 4) or extreme (class 5),
the Chief Ranger may stop issuing burn permits.
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When personnel and equipment are actively on a wildfire the Chief Ranger may
stop issuing permits based on the current fire situation to reduce the odds of
another wildfire occurring.
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The Director of the Georgia Forestry Commission can issue a state wide total
burn ban during times of extreme fire danger and fire occurrence (very rare).
To obtain a burn permits for land clearing burns, any burn pile that
has been machine piled.
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Burning permits are issued from 8:00 am until 4:30 pm seven days a week.
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A burning permit is valid for daytime burning on the day it is issued.
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GFC personnel must be provided with the landowner’s name, the name of the
burner, the burner’s phone number, the location or address of the burn, a starting
and ending time for the burn and what type of burn is being carried out.
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To obtain a permit for large debris piles call the following counties at the number
listed.
County
Morgan
Walton
Phone
706-343-5869
770-207-4204
To obtain a permit to burn any sized pile of hand piled yard debris.
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To burn hand piled yard debris the burner may obtain a permit by logging onto
our website @www.gatrees.org or by calling 1-877-652-2876 on each day of
burning. These systems are taken offline in cases of high fire danger, poor smoke
dispersion or high ozone.
Summer EPD burning ban: May 1 – September 30.
In 2001 the EPD began a summer burn ban that begins on May 1 and ends on
September 30 of each year. This burning ban does not allow the GFC to issue burn
permits for debris burning of any kind either.
This summer burn ban will be in effect each year to help Georgia comply with federal
(EPA) air quality standards. This ban is not affected by smoke dispersion standards
or fire danger at the time during any given year.
The EPD summer burn ban includes Morgan and Walton County.