Tree waste rules in Utah: general burning permits, the clearing index and the closed fire season

This page reports what the official source says. It is not legal advice: ask the office named here. It follows rule R307-202 of the Utah Administrative Code (effective December 2, 2024, as the Office of Administrative Rules shows it), Utah Code section 19-2-114 (effective May 7, 2025) and Utah Code section 65A-8-211 (effective May 3, 2023).

The general prohibition and what it covers

According to rule R307-202, the burning sections apply to general burning in an incorporated community under the authority of a county or municipal fire authority. Unless the rule provides otherwise, nobody may use an open outdoor fire to dispose of garbage, vegetation, trees, wood waste, tires, tar or demolition and construction debris. The fire authority approves burning from the predicted weather and whether the smoke would affect public health or cause an air quality standard to be exceeded. No open burning is allowed at sites used for disposal of community trash, and none while the director has announced a mandatory no-burn period.

Exclusions written into the law

The statute and the rule both exclude burning of prunings and dead or diseased trees, bushes and plants incident to horticultural or agricultural operations, with the rule adding "except for areas zoned as residential". They also exclude burning weed growth on ditch banks for irrigation and the controlled heating of orchards. Section 19-2-114 adds that the board or division may not prohibit a burn between November 1 and March 31 that meets six conditions. Among them are an attainment area, private property in an incorporated part of a county, a clearing index above 250, thoroughly dry clippings and prunings, no trash, rubbish, tires or oil, and no nuisance.

Permits for property clean-up

A permit is issued by the county or municipal fire authority for a specified date or period, is valid only on the lands named, and must describe and quantify the material to be burned.
For clippings, bushes, plants and tree prunings from property clean-up, the rule sets windows. In attainment areas the fire authority may issue a permit from November 1 to March 31 when the clearing index is 250 or greater, and from April 1 to May 31 when it is 500 or greater.
In nonattainment and maintenance counties the April 1 to May 31 window applies at a clearing index of 500 or greater. In both kinds of area, September 15 to October 31 permits need the state forester's approved burning window and an index of 500 or greater.
Apart from the windows in subsection (10)(f)(ii) of the rule, permits issued for a day when the index is below 500 are void until further notice, and a person burning on such a day or breaking the rule is liable for a fine under rule R307-130.
The materials must be thoroughly dry and may not include trash, rubbish, tires or oil, or use them to start or keep the fire going.
Outside nonattainment and maintenance areas, permits can also be granted for tree cuttings and slash in forest areas from pulping and lumbering, and for trees and brush in railroad rights-of-way.

The closed fire season

As the text of Utah Code 65A-8-211 reads, June 1 to October 31 each year is a closed fire season throughout the state, and the state forester may advance or extend it. In that season, setting fire to a forest, brush, range, a field, cultivated land or a debris pile without a written permit from the state forester or a designated deputy, and without complying with it and notifying the state forester, the designee or the applicable public safety answering point, is a class C misdemeanor.

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