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Tree waste rules in Maine: out-of-door burning permits for brush, wood waste and land clearing

What Title 12, sections 9321, 9324 and 9325 of the Maine Revised Statutes say about burn permits, who issues them, the wood wastes that may be burned, red flag warnings and the penalties.

Checked against the sources at the bottom of this page on October 8, 2026. Rules, fees and pay change: the source has the last word.

This page reports what the official source says. It is not legal advice: ask the office named here. It follows sections 9321, 9324 and 9325 of Title 12 of the Maine Revised Statutes as published by the Office of the Revisor of Statutes, whose pages show data extracted on October 20, 2025.

Who issues a permit

According to section 9324 on prohibited acts, no person, firm or corporation may burn out of doors without a permit from a town forest fire warden or forest ranger, except as the article provides. Section 9321 says the director may delegate issuing to forest rangers or town forest fire wardens and their deputies, who may use online burn permit software, and that a municipality may adopt stricter ordinances. The director weighs the fire danger indices, time of day and season, weather, type of burning, length of the burning period and the permittee's experience, and may attach conditions.

Wood waste and brush

Section 9324 defines wood wastes as brush, stumps, lumber, bark, wood chips, shavings, slabs, edgings, slash, sawdust and wood from production rejects that are not mixed with other solid or liquid waste. It prohibits out-of-door burning of plastic, rubber, styrofoam, metals, food wastes, chemicals, treated wood and other solid waste anywhere in the state, but exempts wood wastes and painted and unpainted wood from construction and demolition debris.

According to section 9325 on open burning, the following burning is allowed when a permit has been obtained and no other statute, rule or local ordinance prohibits it.

  • Open burning of leaves, brush, deadwood and tree cuttings from normal property maintenance by the individual landowner or lessee, unless a municipal ordinance expressly prohibits it.
  • Burning on site of wood wastes, and painted and unpainted wood from construction and demolition debris, generated from clearing land or from building, changing, maintaining or demolishing a highway, railroad, power line, communication line, pipeline, building or development.
  • Out-of-door burning of wood wastes in the open or in an unlicensed incinerator with a primary chamber volume of no more than 133 cubic feet or 1,000 gallons.
  • Recreational campfires when the ground is not covered by snow.

The section lists burning without a permit only for recreational campfires on snow cover or a frozen body of water, residential grills and fireplaces, and grills at licensed commercial campgrounds, each up to 3 feet in diameter and 3 feet in height.

Red flag warnings and penalties

In a geographic area under a red flag warning, section 9321 says the director may not issue a permit for open burning, with an exception for controlled burns on commercially managed wild blueberry fields that have an approved plan, and must revoke permits already issued. Section 9324 bars open burning in such an area, including recreational campfires, except at licensed camping facilities and certain state campsites.

Section 9321 says burning out of doors in violation of the article, or failing to follow a permit condition, is a Class E crime. If the violation leads to suppression costs, the court may order restitution of no more than US$25,000 to a municipality and no more than US$125,000 combined to municipalities and the State for each violation.

For other places see the table on tree waste and chip rules. Massachusetts has its own page: tree waste rules in Massachusetts. Rules for moving wood are on moving wood in Maine.

Sources