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Montana, state permit, with a daily check

Montana Burn Permit: Do You Need One and When

Montana lets you burn any time of year but always with a permit from your county fire control authority, applied for and activated online, and in fall you also have to clear DEQ's daily ventilation restrictions while a winter burn needs DEQ approval one request at a time.

State permit
Permit for yard debris
Montana Department of Environmental Quality, Air Quality Bureau
No closed season
When burning is closed
the daily check is the answer
Published
Daily check
Montana Department of Environmental Quality
The answer

Do you need a burn permit in Montana?

A state permit

Yes, and the state issues it

Montana requires a state burning permit, and no part of the year is closed, so the answer is the daily check.

Who issues it
Montana Department of Environmental Quality, Air Quality Bureau
Issued by
county fire control authority, with a statewide online application system; DEQ itself issues only special purpose air quality burn permits
How long it lasts
activated for the day you intend to burn
Prior to burning you must obtain a permit from your local county fire control authority. Most counties have burn permit applications available online at https://app.egovmt.com/burnpermit/.
Open Burning, Montana Department of Environmental Quality, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source

Where you get one

  • Online
  • Local county fire control authority

Montana Department of Environmental Quality, Air Quality Bureau's permit system

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When

When you may burn in Montana

Statewide dates

The state closes no part of the year, so the answer is the daily check.

Montana allows open burning all year, but which agency controls it changes with the season: counties regulate March 1 through August 31, DEQ posts daily county restrictions September 1 through November 30, and from December 1 through February 28 a burn needs DEQ approval granted case by case.

Who sets it
Montana Department of Environmental Quality
Checked against
Open Burning, Montana Department of Environmental Quality
Open Burning is allowed year-round, however, rules vary by season: During the spring and summer, open burning is regulated by counties. During the fall, DEQ issues county-wide restrictions based on the dispersion forecast. ... During the winter, opportunities to burn based on dispersion forecasts are granted on a case-by-case basis.
Open Burning, Montana Department of Environmental Quality, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source
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 Montana

What it names as off the pile

  • Food wastes
  • Styrofoam and other plastics
  • Wastes generating noxious odors
  • Wood and wood byproducts that have been coated, painted, stained, treated, or contaminated by a foreign material
  • Poultry litter
  • Animal droppings
  • Dead animals or dead animal parts
  • Tires
  • Rubber materials
  • Asphalt shingles
  • Tar paper
  • Insulated wire
  • Oil or petroleum products
  • Treated lumber and timbers
  • Pathogenic wastes
  • Hazardous wastes
  • Trade wastes
  • Chemicals
  • Christmas tree waste
  • Asbestos or asbestos-containing materials
  • Paint
The following material may not be disposed of by open burning (see ARM 17.8.604):
Open Burning, Montana Department of Environmental Quality, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source
The morning of

What to check before you light in Montana

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 Montana it is published here.

a daily DEQ ventilation forecast with that day's county by county open burning restrictions, plus a ventilation hotline

Montana Department of Environmental Quality

Each day, county restrictions are posted on the Burn Restrictions map and on the ventilation hotline 800-225-6779.
Montana Department of Environmental Quality, 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 Montana

Counties set the fire safety side of the rules, and seven county or city county health and air pollution programs run their own open burning permits that a resident must go through instead of the statewide system.

Specific counties or impact zones have their own open burning programs and must be contacted directly to receive the proper air quality open burning permit prior to burning. If burning will take place in one of these counties you must first contact the county before any burning takes place.
Open Burning, Montana Department of Environmental Quality, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source

Montana burn permit questions

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Burn permits in other states

Firewood permits in MontanaWhat a cutting permit costs, and the wood the state will not let you move.Heating fuel prices in MontanaWhat heating oil and propane cost this season, week by week.Frost line depth in MontanaHow deep the ground freezes, and who actually says so.

Montana rules read September 23, 2026 from Open Burning, Montana Department of Environmental Quality. 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.