Franklin County, KY Fire Regulations: Outdoor Burning (2026)

Franklin County Code §§ 91.50 through 91.52 give the Fiscal Court's chief executive a burn ban power, not a standing prohibition. Under § 91.50, whenever the Division of Forestry of the commonwealth notifies the county that an extraordinary fire hazard exists in the county, as determined by the National Fire Danger Rating System and fire occurrence, the County Judge/Executive may proclaim such condition to exist.

Once a proclamation under § 91.50 has been issued, § 91.51 applies: no person shall light or maintain an open fire at any location in the county while the proclamation is in effect. The wording covers both lighting a new fire and maintaining one already burning, so a fire started before the proclamation has to be put out. The prohibition reaches any location in the county rather than only certain land types, and the section carves out no exception for campfires, debris piles or cooking fires.

Notice is handled by § 91.52: the proclamation is published in the newspaper of largest bona fide circulation in the county. Residents therefore have a printed announcement to check, and the ban runs for as long as the proclamation stays in effect.

The trigger sits with the state, since the Division of Forestry must notify the county first, but the decision sits with the County Judge/Executive, who can proclaim the condition. The section prints no season, no fixed start date and no permit system. Burn rules for ordinary times fall outside these sections.

This Fiscal Court rule applies in unincorporated Franklin County, Kentucky, and the City of Frankfort is a separate jurisdiction with its own code.