Outdoor burning rules in Portland, ME — also called the burn ban, open burning, or fire restriction ordinance — set when you can burn yard waste, debris, or run a recreational fire.
Open burning of any kind in Portland — brush, debris, ground campfires over 3 ft — requires a permit obtained from the Maine Forest Service or the Portland Fire Department. As of October 2023, permits are required for ALL outdoor fires larger than 3 ft x 3 ft, including recreational campfires. Burning is prohibited statewide during red-flag warnings.
Open burning in Portland is governed by 12 M.R.S. §§9321-9325 (Forest Fire Control, Subchapter IV, Article II — Out-of-Door Fires), 06-096 C.M.R. ch. 102 (DEP open-burning rule), and the Portland Code of Ordinances Chapter 10. Under 12 M.R.S. §9324, no person may burn out of doors without a permit from a town forest fire warden (in Portland, the Portland Fire Department's Fire Prevention Bureau acts as the warden) or a State forest ranger, except under the narrow exceptions in §§9322, 9324 and 9325. Following October 2023 amendments to Maine's open-burning law, permits are required for ALL fires greater than 3 ft x 3 ft, regardless of whether they were previously considered 'recreational.' Burning is prohibited statewide on Class 3 fire-danger days and above, and during any red-flag warning, except at licensed camping facilities and state-managed campsites. The DEP rule (06-096 C.M.R. ch. 102) further restricts WHAT may be burned: only clean wood, brush, leaves, and similar vegetative matter — never plastic, rubber, styrofoam, metals, food waste, chemicals, treated wood, or solid waste. Burning solid waste is also a violation of 38 M.R.S. §1304 (Maine solid-waste management law).
Violations of 12 M.R.S. §9324 expose the violator to civil penalties under 12 M.R.S. §9325, plus liability for the full cost of suppression if the fire escapes. The Portland Fire Prevention Bureau may also issue municipal citations under Chapter 10. Burning prohibited materials adds DEP enforcement under 38 M.R.S. §349 with civil penalties up to $25,000 per day. Reckless behavior that causes a fire endangering persons or property may be prosecuted as Reckless Burning (17-A M.R.S. §803, Class D crime, up to 364 days jail).
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