Blaine, MN Fire Regulations: Outdoor Burning (2026)

Blaine's open burning article, Chapter 38 Article III, starts from Minnesota's own open burning statute: Blaine City Code § 38-49 adopts M.S.A. ch. 88 by reference for definitions and permit conditions, and § 38-50 authorizes the city council to go further than state law within city limits, which it does. Section 38-53 bans burning outright for a long list of materials, treated or painted wood, tires, railroad ties, tar paper, insulation, sheet rock, wiring, hazardous waste, food waste, and any leaves or grass clippings, and subsection (g) prohibits open burning on any commercial property in the city, period, with no permit available.

Everywhere else, Blaine City Code § 38-54 requires an open burning permit before starting a fire, with one carve-out: a fire that meets the recreational/camp fire definition in § 38-52 needs no permit. Special-circumstance permits, for eliminating a health hazard, ground thawing for utility work, prairie-restoration running fires, or disposing of diseased trees, infected nursery stock, or diseased bee hives, can be issued by the city or a DNR forestry official under § 38-55; fire-training permits and permanent tree-and-brush burning site permits are DNR-only. An approved permit still comes with conditions in § 38-59: the burn site needs at least five acres, at least four inches of snow cover, a pile no more than ten feet across, separation from structures scaled to pile size, 400 feet for a ten-foot pile down to 100 feet for a pile under six feet, 100 feet from property lines, on-site fire suppression equipment, and constant attendance with winds under ten mph.

Beyond permits, § 38-61 lets the designated fire official declare a citywide burning ban whenever conditions turn hazardous, and no recreational fire or open burn, permitted or not, is allowed once that ban or an MPCA air quality alert is in effect. A DNR officer or the fire official can revoke any permit mid-burn under § 38-60.