Tree waste rules in Ohio: open burning in restricted and unrestricted areas, land clearing and air curtain burners

This page reports what the official source says. It is not legal advice: ask the office named here. It follows rules 3745-19-01, 3745-19-03, 3745-19-04 and 3745-19-05 of the Ohio Administrative Code, read through the Cornell Legal Information Institute copies. The notes on rules .03 and .04 show a five year review due on March 7, 2028 for rule .03.

Two kinds of area

According to rule 3745-19-01, open burning means burning where the smoke goes straight into the air without passing through a stack or chimney. The rule splits the state in two.

A restricted area is the land inside any municipal corporation, plus a zone of 1,000 feet beyond the boundary of a municipal corporation of 1,000 to 10,000 people, and a zone of one mile beyond one of 10,000 people or more, by the latest federal census.
An unrestricted area is everything outside a restricted area.
Municipal corporations on islands in Lake Erie are not restricted areas, except between Memorial Day and Labor Day, when they follow the restricted area rule.

The same rule defines land clearing waste as plant waste removed from land to make it useful for residential, commercial or industrial development, including clearing for new agricultural development. Residential waste is waste, including landscape waste, from a one, two or three family home, not counting garbage, rubber, grease, asphalt, liquid petroleum products or plastics. Agricultural waste comes from crop, horticultural or livestock work and does not include land clearing waste.

Restricted areas

According to the text of rule 3745-19-03, no person or property owner may cause or allow open burning in a restricted area except for the purposes the rule lists. Landscape waste burning is not on the list of uses allowed without a notice. What the rule does allow falls in three groups.

No notice to Ohio EPA: occupational heating such as tar kettles and welding, and campfires and bonfires fuelled with clean seasoned firewood, not used for waste disposal, with a fuel area of three feet or less across and two feet or less high.
With prior notice to Ohio EPA: disease or pest control when a listed health or agriculture body verifies that burning is the only suitable disposal method, ceremonial fires up to five feet across and five feet high burning no longer than three hours, agricultural waste generated on the premises, and recognized horticultural, forestry, range, prairie, invasive species or wildlife management burns.
With written permission from Ohio EPA: ignitable or explosive material with no practical alternative, firefighter training, emergencies the director decides are extraordinary, recognized horticultural and forestry practices, and film production fires that are not for waste disposal.

For agricultural waste in a restricted area the rule sets conditions: the fire only when the air will readily disperse the smoke, no visibility hazard on roads, railroad tracks or airfields, a spot at least 1,000 feet from any inhabited building not on the premises, wastes stacked and dried, and nothing burned that contains rubber, grease, asphalt, liquid petroleum products, plastics or building materials. For the forestry and similar management burns the rule asks for a burn within 180 days of the notice, notice to the local fire department at least 24 hours before, notice to people within one quarter mile, and records of weather, acres, and times kept for at least one year.

Unrestricted areas

According to the text of rule 3745-19-04, open burning in an unrestricted area is again barred except for the listed purposes. The difference from the restricted area rule is that residential waste or agricultural waste generated on the premises may be burned with no notice if the same conditions are met: dispersal weather, no visibility hazard, at least 1,000 feet from an inhabited building not on the premises, dry stacked wastes, and no rubber, grease, asphalt, liquid petroleum products, plastics or building materials. Prior notice to Ohio EPA is required when an agricultural waste pile is larger than twenty feet across by ten feet high (four thousand cubic feet), or a residential waste pile is larger than ten feet by ten feet by ten feet (one thousand cubic feet).

Land clearing waste

Rule 3745-19-04 allows two ways to burn land clearing waste in an unrestricted area, both needing more than a notice.

With written permission from Ohio EPA, land clearing waste generated on the premises may be burned if the fire follows the dispersal and visibility conditions, sits at least 1,000 feet from any inhabited building not on the premises, and uses an air curtain destructor or another device the director finds at least as effective.
With an air curtain burner, the owner must apply for a permit to install under chapter 3745-31 and a Title V permit under chapter 3745-77. The rule says the burner must sit at least 1,000 feet from inhabited buildings not on the premises, may not be charged earlier than thirty minutes after sunrise, must finish charging at least sixty minutes before sunset, must keep a daily log of charging times, must be attended until flames are no longer visible, and may be used only for land clearing waste.

Permission and notice

According to the text of rule 3745-19-05, an application for permission is written and Ohio EPA is allowed at least ten working days to review it, not counting weekends and legal holidays. The application gives the purpose, the quantity and kind of material, the dates, the burn site with a map showing distances to homes, roads and airfields, and the steps to reduce emissions. Permission is not granted unless the applicant shows that burning is necessary in the public interest, will be done to minimize emissions in suitable weather, and will have no serious detrimental effect on neighbours. Permission is needed for each project. In an emergency where waiting would seriously threaten public health or environmental quality, the fire may be set with oral permission. Breaking a condition is grounds to revoke permission and to refuse future permission.

For other places see the table on tree waste and chip rules. Neighbouring Indiana has its own page: tree waste rules in Indiana. Kentucky is on its own page too.