Plainfield, NJ Fire Regulations: Outdoor Burning (2026)

Section 8:3-4(a) of the Plainfield Municipal Code says no person shall cause, suffer, allow, or permit open burning of refuse or plant life, and the same ban covers conducting a salvage operation by open burning. The verbs matter: a property owner who permits a fire on the premises is as exposed as the person who lights it.

The code defines the terms in § 8:3-3. Open burning means any fire wherein the products of combustion are emitted into the open air and are not directed thereto through a stack or chimney. Refuse covers putrescible and non-putrescible wastes and expressly includes garbage, rubbish, yard trimmings, leaves, ashes and dead animals, and rubbish includes tree branches and yard trimmings. A brush or leaf pile is inside the ban.

The one exception is § 8:3-4(b): open burning of trade waste is not prohibited where no other known method of disposal can be used without hazard to health or property and the required affidavit has been filed with and approved by the Commissioner of the New Jersey State Department of Environmental Protection under Chapter II, Section 1.4 of the New Jersey Air Pollution Control Code.

A cross reference under the section points open fires to the Fire Prevention Code, Section 28.1. Section 2:11-7 adopts the Fire Prevention Code of 1971, and the Fire Division's Bureau of Fire Prevention runs fire safety inspections under § 2:11-6. Inspections under the air pollution article are made by the Director of Public Affairs and Safety or designees, and § 8:3-8(b) allows an emergency inspection without a warrant when a condition poses an immediate threat to life, health or safety. Incinerators are separate: § 8:3-6(e) bars operating one before 7 A.M. or after 5 P.M. unless the Director issues a Special Permit for exceptional circumstances.