Springfield, OR Fire Regulations: Outdoor Burning (2026)

Municipal Code section 4.418 makes it unlawful for anyone to burn garbage, refuse, or other substances covered by sections 4.400 and 4.404 out of doors within Springfield city limits unless they are duly licensed or franchised to handle that material. The exception in section 4.418(4) is narrow: nothing in the chapter prevents burning leaves and dry rubbish specifically, but only if the resident first obtains a permit from the city and the burning is also authorized under regulations adopted by the Lane Regional Air Protection Agency and consistent with the requirements of the Fire Code.

A separate exception in section 4.418(5) preserves a resident's right to self-haul their own garbage under section 4.402, but that self-haul allowance does not extend to burning anything beyond leaves and dry rubbish. Springfield Fire, the shared Eugene Springfield Fire department, and LRAPA jointly gate whether a given day's air-quality and fire-danger conditions allow the permitted burning to proceed, on top of the city permit itself. This licensing structure sits inside the same garbage-and-refuse article that franchises the city's collector under section 4.404, so an unpermitted backyard burn pile is treated the same as unlicensed hauling: prohibited unless the narrow exception is met.

Because Springfield, Oregon sits across the Willamette from Eugene at the I-5/OR-126 junction, residents should confirm any burn permit and LRAPA clearance with Springfield authorities specifically, not Eugene or unincorporated Lane County, which administer their own separate burning rules.