Burlington, WI Fire Regulations: Outdoor Burning (2026)

Section 155-41E of the Code of the City of Burlington, amended November 4, 2025 by Ordinance No. 2130, makes open burning the default-prohibited activity in the Fire Prevention chapter: there is no open-air burning of any combustible waste material except by a permit issued by the Authority Having Jurisdiction. To get a special burn permit, a resident must write to the Fire Department at least three business days before the event, submit to a site inspection, and keep the written permit at the site once issued; the permit expires ten days after the scheduled event date.

Even under a permit, burning trash, wet combustible rubbish, garbage, oily substances, asphalt, plastic, foam, rubber products or building materials is prohibited outright, along with any material creating dense smoke or a nuisance. Wind velocity cannot exceed nine miles per hour, and a competent supervisor at least 18 years old must watch the fire constantly until it is out. and a half hour before sunset, and flammable or combustible liquids may never be used to ignite or accelerate the fire. If smoke obscures a public roadway, or the fire becomes a nuisance, unsafe or uncontrollable, it must be extinguished immediately, and the Fire Department can suspend all burning on days with unacceptable atmospheric conditions. A violation is enforceable under the chapter's citation authority, § 155-54, and penalized under § 155-55A.