Maryland Burn Permit: Do You Need One and When

Q: Do I need a permit to burn leaves in Maryland?

Yes. Maryland Department of the Environment issues it, application made on forms provided by the Department or local fire control agency and local Forest Service office.

Q: Who do I call before burning in Maryland?

Maryland Department of the Environment, and the fire district where the fire will be. A state answer and a local answer can both apply, and the local one is the one that knows about today.

Q: Does a burn ban override a permit in Maryland?

A permit or a notification settles whether you may burn at all. Whether today is a day for it is a separate question, answered each morning by fire danger ratings, burn bans and air quality forecasts, and several states revoke permits outright when the weather turns. Maryland Department of Natural Resources Forest Service posts that check, linked below.

State permit

Permit for yard debris

Maryland Department of the Environment

Some counties only

When burning is closed

the state dates are narrower than the state

Restricted

Hours you may burn

in and within 200 feet of woodland, between 4 p.m. and midnight, unless the ground is covered with snow

Published

Daily check

Maryland Department of Natural Resources Forest Service

The answer

Do you need a burn permit in Maryland?

A state permit

Yes, and the state issues it

Maryland requires a state burning permit, and the dates that close burning, Jun 1 to Aug 31, apply in named counties rather than statewide.

Who issues it: Maryland Department of the Environment
Issued by: the county air quality control officer, on an application form provided by the Department or the local fire control agency; for burning in or within 200 feet of woodland the local Maryland Forest Service office issues the burning permit

A person may not cause or permit an open fire except as provided in Regulations .03 — .05 of this chapter.

COMAR 26.11.07.02 General, Code of Maryland Regulations, Department of the Environment, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source

Where you get one

Application made on forms provided by the Department or local fire control agency
Local Forest Service office

When

When you may burn in Maryland

Maryland is one of the states where a pair of dates on its own gives the wrong answer. What follows is the rule in the agency's own words, with the shape of the season named above it.

Some counties only

Maryland sets no statewide burning window, but open burning is prohibited every summer in the central counties and Baltimore City; elsewhere burning is allowed any day of the year subject to the hours and safety rules.

Who sets it: Maryland Department of the Environment
Checked against: COMAR 26.11.07.03 Control Officer May Authorize Certain Open Fires, Code of Maryland Regulations, Department of the Environment

In Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Calvert, Carroll, Cecil, Charles, Frederick, Harford, Howard, Montgomery, and Prince George's counties and Baltimore City, open burning is prohibited during the period from June 1 through August 31 of each year, beginning June 1, 1995.

COMAR 26.11.07.03 Control Officer May Authorize Certain Open Fires, Code of Maryland Regulations, Department of the Environment, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source

MarylandJun 1 to Aug 31Some counties only
Maryland sets no statewide burning window, but open burning is prohibited every summer in the central counties and Baltimore City; elsewhere burning is allowed any day of the year subject to the hours and safety rules.

The hours are part of the rule and are the piece most often missed: Maryland allows burning in and within 200 feet of woodland, between 4 p.m. and midnight, unless the ground is covered with snow.

Piles of brush burnt down to rings of white ash on a forest floor with smoke drifting through the pines, a single crew member in yellow standing at a distance watching them — Piles burnt down to ash at the Grand Canyon, with one person left standing over them. Almost every state permit carries the same condition in some wording: somebody stays with the fire until it is out. That attendance requirement, not the paperwork, is what most permits are really about. “Grand Canyon National Park - Prescribed Pile Burning, May, 2019”, Grand Canyon NPS, CC BY 2.0

What may burn

What you may and may not burn in Maryland

What the state names as burnable

burning of leaves originating on the premises, by householders, in those areas where no provision is made for public collection of leaves
ordinary household trash originating on the premises, excluding commercial establishments, in those areas where no provision is made for public collection of refuse
fires set in the course of agricultural operations in growing crops or raising fowl or animals or in accepted forestry practice
cooking of food on other than commercial premises
recreational purposes, such as campfires
warming fires for outdoor workers

What it names as off the pile

materials which produce dense smoke when burned, including, but not limited to, tires and roofing material
material that did not originate on the premises on which it is to be burned
ordinary household or barnyard trash in areas where provision is made for public collection of refuse

In those areas where no provision is made for public collection of leaves, burning of leaves originating on the premises, by householders, is permitted, provided that leaves are not burned at locations closer than 200 feet (61 meters) from any neighboring habitable dwelling or place where people work or congregate;

COMAR 26.11.07.05 Open Fires Allowed Without Authorization of Control Officer or Public Officer, Code of Maryland Regulations, Department of the Environment, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source

The conditions

What Maryland 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.

a firebreak at least 10 feet wide and clear of flammable material all the way around the pile
enough people and equipment on hand to keep the fire from escaping
one responsible person stays until the last spark is out
burning only between 4 p.m. and midnight, unless snow covers the ground
in the central counties and Baltimore City, not within 500 yards of an occupied building or a heavily travelled public road

A natural or constructed firebreak at least 10 feet wide and free of flammable materials completely surrounds the material to be burned.

Wildfire Prevention and Burning Guidance, Maryland Department of Natural Resources Forest Service, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source

The morning of

What to check before you light in Maryland

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 Maryland it is published here.

no statewide daily burn day call; the Forest Service may close all open air burning by declaring a ban, and points readers to fire weather and fire danger conditions

Maryland Department of Natural Resources Forest Service

Under prolonged or unusual conditions conducive to wildfire, the Director may declare a complete burn ban on all open air burning in woodland or in areas where flammable material could carry fire to woodland, statewide or in any specific area.

Maryland Department of Natural Resources Forest Service, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source

A volunteer fire department letter board reading BURN BAN IN EFFECT above a Smokey Bear fire danger sign showing HIGH, with a red flag flying beside it — A volunteer fire department in Florence, Texas, posting the answer on its own sign. A burn ban is usually declared by a county judge or a local fire authority, and it closes burning that a state permit would otherwise allow. Whatever the season says, the ban is the last word. “Florence Texas VFD Burn Ban Sign”, Larry D. Moore, CC BY 4.0

Your town

What your town can add in Maryland

The state rules do not apply inside the limits of incorporated towns, and a burner must meet every other state and local requirement on top of them, so the town or county rule can be the one that decides.

Individuals engaged in open air burning must also comply with all applicable state and local requirements.

COMAR 26.11.07.02 General, Code of Maryland Regulations, Department of the Environment, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source

Maryland burn permit questions

Do I need a permit to burn leaves in Maryland?

When can you burn in Maryland?

Maryland sets no statewide burning window, but open burning is prohibited every summer in the central counties and Baltimore City; elsewhere burning is allowed any day of the year subject to the hours and safety rules. Inside that, burning is allowed in and within 200 feet of woodland, between 4 p.m. and midnight, unless the ground is covered with snow. The sentence is quoted from Maryland Department of the Environment below, with a link.

Is Maryland's burning season the same everywhere in the state?

No, and this is the part most tables get wrong. What the dates are: some counties only. Maryland sets no statewide burning window, but open burning is prohibited every summer in the central counties and Baltimore City; elsewhere burning is allowed any day of the year subject to the hours and safety rules. A fifty-state table that prints two dates beside Maryland is telling you something the state did not say.

How do I find out if there is a burn ban in Maryland today?

What can't you burn in Maryland?

Maryland names materials which produce dense smoke when burned, including, but not limited to, tires and roofing material, material that did not originate on the premises on which it is to be burned and ordinary household or barnyard trash in areas where provision is made for public collection of refuse. The lists across the fifty states agree on a core of it: tires, treated and painted wood, plastics, roofing and household garbage. The full list is quoted below from the state.

What are the rules for a legal burn pile in Maryland?

Who do I call before burning in Maryland?

Does a burn ban override a permit in Maryland?

Maryland rules read September 23, 2026 from COMAR 26.11.07.02 General, Code of Maryland Regulations, Department of the Environment. 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.