Indiana Open Burning Air Pollution Rules

Open burning in Indiana is governed by Rule 1 of 326 IAC 4, administered by the Office of Air Quality at the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM). Section 4-1-2 states the baseline: open burning is prohibited except as allowed in the rule, and the department encourages alternatives such as sale or reuse. Section 4-1-3 then carves out what may be burned. Subsection (a) restates the statutory exemptions in IC 13-17-9 for maintenance burning, such as vegetation from farms, orchards, nurseries, tree farms, cemeteries and drainage ditches, and from agricultural land in unincorporated areas.

Subsection (c) lists the fires the rule itself allows, starting with recreational or ceremonial fires such as scouting fires and camp fires used for cooking. Those fires may burn only clean wood products, paper, charcoal or clean petroleum products. If the pile is larger than 125 cubic feet, the person burning must notify the local fire department and health department at least 24 hours in advance with the date, time and location. Every allowed fire carries the conditions in subsection (b): it must be attended at all times until completely extinguished; it must be put out if it creates a pollution problem, a threat to public health, a nuisance or a fire hazard; it may not be conducted during high winds, temperature inversions, air stagnation or a declared pollution alert or air quality action day; adequate firefighting equipment must be on site; and burning is limited to daylight hours with all fires extinguished before sunset.

The rule also requires compliance with other federal, state and local laws, rules and ordinances, so counties and municipalities may layer stricter ordinances and burn bans on top of the state floor.

Violations may result in IDEM civil penalties up to $25,000 per day under IC 13-30-4. Local fire officials may issue stop-work orders. Fires endangering property may trigger arson or reckless burning charges.