Arkansas Burn Permit: Do You Need One and When
Arkansas asks no state permit to burn the leaves and trimmings that grew on your own property, but your city or county may ask for one, household trash and trade waste are never allowed on the pile, and the thing to check on the morning of is the Forestry Division's burn ban map, because county judges close whole counties at a time.
Do you need a burn permit in Arkansas?
Not from the state
Arkansas requires no state permit to burn yard debris, and the dates come from your town, county or fire district.
- Who issues it
- Arkansas Department of Energy and Environment, Division of Environmental Quality
- Issued by
- nobody, for ordinary yard waste grown on your own property: the state requires no permit for that. Your city or county may run one of its own, out of the county courthouse, city hall or the fire department. DEQ does issue an open burning permit under Rule 18.605, but only to an applicant who shows there is no practicable, safe and lawful alternative way to dispose of the material.
Generally, Arkansans may burn yard waste that is collected from the property it is grown on. Residential open burning of yard waste is strongly discouraged but permissible in some areas of Arkansas under specified conditions. Ark. Code Ann § 8-6-1703. Both state and local authorities may limit the practice of the open burning of yard waste. Local authorities, such as city or county officials, can place local restrictions on open burning. Local authorities may also set up a permit procedure that requires residents to get a permit from the county courthouse, city hall, or the fire department before burning yard waste.Open Burning, Arkansas Division of Environmental Quality Office of Air Quality Compliance, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source
Where you get one
- County courthouse
- City hall
- Fire department
No permit is not the same as no rules. Arkansas still sets what may go on the pile, how far it has to be from a building, and the conditions it may be lit in, and a local ordinance can be stricter than the state on every one of those. All of it is below.
When you may burn in Arkansas
Statewide dates
The state sets no dates. Your town, county or fire district does.
Arkansas sets no statewide open burning season. Burning yard waste grown on your own property is generally allowed any month, and what closes it is a burn ban, which county judges issue county by county and which can cover most of the state at once in a dry autumn.
- Who sets it
- Arkansas Division of Environmental Quality
- Checked against
- Open Burning, Arkansas Division of Environmental Quality Office of Air Quality Compliance
Both state and local authorities may limit the practice of the open burning of yard waste. Local authorities, such as city or county officials, can place local restrictions on open burning. Additionally, several federal and state agencies can issue burn bans that stop burning because of weather conditions or potential hazards.Open Burning, Arkansas Division of Environmental Quality Office of Air Quality Compliance, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source
What you may and may not burn in Arkansas
What the state names as burnable
- grass clippings
- tree leaves
- gardening waste
- shrubbery trimmings collected from residential property
- fires used for the non-commercial cooking of food or for ceremonial or recreational purposes, including barbecues and outdoor fireplaces used in connection with any residence
- open burning related to agricultural activities including clearing previously uncultivated lands and burning of stubble and other debris on previously harvested fields
- controlled fires used for purposes of forest and wildlife management
- controlled fires used only for purposes of on-site land clearing operations
What it names as off the pile
- refuse
- garbage
- trade waste
- other waste material
- household waste
- salvage operations by open burning
- waste products generated by cotton gins or similar equipment used in a manufacturing process
- fowls or animals
No person shall cause or permit the open burning of refuse, garbage, trade waste, or other waste material, or shall conduct a salvage operation by open burning.Open Burning, Arkansas Division of Environmental Quality Office of Air Quality Compliance, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source
What Arkansas asks of the weather and the site
Setbacks, wind limits and what has to be on hand. These are written into the rule rather than offered as advice.
- burn only yard waste that grew on the property it is burned on
- forest and wildlife management fires only when winds are blowing away from populated areas
- burning can be shut down anywhere in the state when it becomes a local nuisance
- burning can be shut down when it creates a fire or safety hazard
- burning can be shut down when DEQ believes it could push the area past the national air quality standards
- the fire and anything it causes are yours, smoke and odor included
By law, open burning can be prohibited in a particular area of the state or throughout the entire state when: It becomes a local nuisance. It creates a fire or safety hazard. It pollutes the air and DEQ believes it will create a situation whereby the National Ambient Air Quality Standards could be exceeded in a given area.Open Burning, Arkansas Division of Environmental Quality Office of Air Quality Compliance, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source
What to check before you light in Arkansas
A permit or a season says you may burn in general. What says you may burn today is separate, it changes daily on a wind and humidity forecast, and it overrides a permit already in hand. In Arkansas it is published here.
the Forestry Division's Wildfire Danger and Burn Bans map, which names every county under a ban and every county at high risk, stamped with the hour it was drawn
Arkansas Department of Agriculture Forestry Division
County Judges Issue Burn Bans. Risk levels are determined by fuel conditions, drought status, and long-term weather forecasts. They are categorized by how easily fires can start and how hard they are to contain.Arkansas Department of Agriculture Forestry Division, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source
What your town can add in Arkansas
Cities and counties can be stricter than the state, and some of them run a permit the state does not: you would pick it up at the county courthouse, city hall or the fire department. County judges are also the ones who declare the burn bans.
Local authorities may also set up a permit procedure that requires residents to get a permit from the county courthouse, city hall, or the fire department before burning yard waste.Open Burning, Arkansas Division of Environmental Quality Office of Air Quality Compliance, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source
Arkansas burn permit questions
Burn permits in other states
Arkansas rules read September 23, 2026 from Open Burning, Arkansas Division of Environmental Quality Office of Air Quality Compliance. Rules change, a county or town may be stricter than the state, and a burn ban issued today overrides a season that is otherwise open. Every state is on the burn permit hub.