Gainesville, FL Fire Regulations: Outdoor Burning (2026)

Section 10-63 sets the baseline: open burning and outdoor burning are prohibited citywide unless the burning article specifically permits it, and nine categories of material can never be burned regardless of permit status, including refuse and household garbage, construction and demolition waste, hazardous substances such as batteries, pesticides, used oil, paints and solvents, furniture and appliances, tires, plastics, newspaper, cardboard and other printed material, and treated or painted wood. Section 10-61 carves out grilling, cooking appliances and third-party-tested heating or maintenance torches from the article entirely, and Section 10-65 allows agricultural burning of weeds, brush and crop stubble on farmland without a separate city permit.

Everything else that's permitted, burning leaves, brush, clean wood or other vegetative debris under Section 10-64, an outdoor wood-fired boiler under Section 10-67, or prescribed land-management burns under Section 10-66, requires a burning permit issued by the Risk Reduction Bureau of Gainesville Fire Rescue under Section 10-70, with a fee set in the city's Appendix A fee schedule. The fire chief can suspend permit issuance or void previously issued permits during unfavorable weather, and a permit holder whose permit is voided has five business days to request the fire chief's review.