Tree waste rules in Victoria: burn-offs, Fire Danger Period permits, Total Fire Bans and council local laws
What the Country Fire Authority and EPA Victoria say about burning off branches and other vegetation: when a permit is needed in the Fire Danger Period, the Total Fire Ban, registration of burn-offs, local laws, the materials the CFA lists as not to be burned and the fines.
Checked against the sources at the bottom of this page on October 9, 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 two Country Fire Authority (CFA) pages, the Fire Permits Victoria site and the EPA Victoria smoke page. All dollar amounts are Australian dollars.
Three layers of rules
On its burning off page, the CFA says burning off excess vegetation is governed by three things: the Fire Danger Period, Total Fire Bans and local council laws. Its summary says a permit is needed to burn off during the Fire Danger Period, burning off on a Total Fire Ban day is illegal, and local council laws should be checked.
Fire Danger Period
The CFA's page about the Fire Danger Period and Total Fire Ban days says the CFA sets the start and end of the Fire Danger Period for each local council area from local conditions such as rainfall and grassland curing. It says a period can be declared as early as October in some councils and typically stays in place until the fire danger lessens around autumn. During it, the CFA says, burning off needs a written permit, which is applied for online at Fire Permits Victoria, and some councils also offer permits. The CFA's Fire Danger Period page says breaking the rules can bring a fine of up to AU$23,000 or 12 months in prison, or both. Its burning off page words the same penalty as a fine of more than AU$23,000 or 12 months in prison, and a video on that page shows fines over AU$24,000 or 1 year in jail and says a permit is unlikely to be issued.
Total Fire Ban
According to the CFA, Total Fire Bans are declared by its Chief Officer by fire weather district, and Victoria has nine districts set by the Bureau of Meteorology. They are announced in the afternoon the day before and run from midnight to midnight. The CFA says burning off on a ban day is illegal even with a permit, and that a fire already burning must be put out before the ban day. The Total Fire Ban page gives penalties of up to AU$46,000 or 2 years in prison, or both; the burning off page says more than AU$46,000 or 2 years, and its video shows fines of AU$48,000 or more and 2 years in jail.
Registration, materials and the environmental rules
The CFA says every burn-off should be registered, with or without a permit, on Fire Permits Victoria or by phone for a burn starting within two hours. The site describes itself as Check, Apply, Notify, and says notifying fire services reduces brigade call-outs. The registration details the CFA lists are the location, the date and expected start and finish times, the estimated size and what will be burned. The burning off page lists grass, weeds, undergrowth, branches and other vegetation as what may be burned, and tyres, painted or treated wood, plastics and manufactured items as materials that can bring a fine. It names mulching, a green waste collection service and a waste transfer station as alternatives.
Separately, the EPA Victoria smoke page lists private burn-offs among sources of smoke and says the general environmental duty applies to managing smoke, with obligations set out in the Environment Protection Regulations 2021.
For other places see the table on tree waste and chip rules. A neighbouring state is on the Tasmania page.