Tree waste rules in Queensland: Permit to Light Fire, fire bans and the Fire Services Act 1990

This page reports what the official source says. It is not legal advice: ask the office named here. It follows the Fire Services Act 1990 on the Queensland Legislation site and two Queensland Fire Department brochures, dated 2022 and 2025. The 2022 brochure calls the Act the Fire and Emergency Services Act 1990.

The offence and the permit

According to the Fire Services Act 1990, section 145 makes it an offence to light a fire that is not authorised by Part 1 of Chapter 4A or by a notification, notice or permit given under it. The maximum penalty is 50 penalty units or 6 months imprisonment. Section 144 says a person lights a fire if they light, maintain or use it, help or counsel another to, or as owner or occupier let another do so.

Section 145C lets a person apply to the commissioner for a permit to light a fire on any land, orally or in writing. The commissioner may grant or refuse it. The commissioner must refuse unless satisfied that reasonable steps were taken to notify each occupier of adjoining land and that each was given a reasonable chance to object, except in extraordinary circumstances. Section 145B lets the commissioner, by notice to an occupier, prohibit all fires or all but specified fires on that land.

What the Fire Department brochures add

According to the Lighting Fires in Queensland brochure, a permit is needed for debris removal by stack burning, and for larger burns for hazard reduction, pasture management or other land management, and that it comes from the local Fire Warden. It says the Fire Warden can impose conditions and can refuse if safety measures cannot reasonably be achieved or neighbours have not had enough time to object. It also says many local councils have local laws that restrict or ban fires in part or all of their area.

The same brochure lists fires that normally need no permit with adequate precautions: fires less than two metres in all directions, which are not exempt during fire bans, cooking barbecues and campfires in a fireplace built to stop escape of fire or embers, a fire to burn the carcass of a beast, a sawmill fire for sawdust or residue, and cane fires, which may be subject to notification. It says a permit application to the Fire Warden follows contact with neighbours, and that mechanically clearing native vegetation to burn may need a separate permit under Queensland's Vegetation Management Laws.

According to the Obligations and Responsibilities brochure, which carries a 2025 copyright line, a permit is only issued for burning vegetation, including collected vegetation, hazard reduction, grazing land management, timber production management and weed control. It says toxic or hazardous materials such as rubber tyres, plastics and paint cannot be burned, and the fire must not produce excessive smoke. It says a permit can be amended, cancelled or suspended at any time, that the holder must have it in possession before lighting, and that a permit holder who complies with conditions has no liability under the Act or common law for loss from the fire unless acting recklessly or maliciously.

Fire bans

The 2022 brochure says a Local Fire Ban can be declared over part or all of a local government area, and a State of Fire Emergency over part or all of the State. It says a ban generally prohibits lighting all or certain fires, and that permits issued in the declared area may be cancelled. The 2025 brochure says permits are automatically cancelled while a ban is active. Part 2 of Chapter 4A of the Act covers local fire bans in sections 145M to 145S, including the offence of contravening one.

For other places see the table on tree waste and chip rules. A neighbouring state is on the South Australia page.

Tree waste rules in Queensland: Permit to Light Fire, fire bans and the Fire Services Act 1990

The offence and the permit

What the Fire Department brochures add

Fire bans

Sources