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Colorado Smoke Management Program
Do I Need a Permit?
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If you think you may need a Colorado prescribed fire
smoke permit and have never applied for one,
contact us. Procedures can get complex. |
Most open fires in Colorado need a smoke
permit. Permits are
designed to protect air quality, for health (including NAAQS), visibility
and other public aspects of welfare.
Graphics version:
See also
the full version of
this flyer from the Colorado Prescribed Fire Council. The
first page of the flyer addresses fire control permits, and the last
page has tips for safe burning.
Short text version:
| 1. Is the burn for production agriculture? |
yes |
No smoke permit is needed. |
| no |
Go to question 2. |
| not sure |
Read text below this table. |
| 2. Is the burn for grassland or forest management,
including vegetative, habitat, or fuel management AND includes only
clean, unprocessed wildland fuels? |
yes |
Go to question 3. |
| no |
Read about a
general open burn smoke permit. |
| not sure |
Read text below this table, or
contact us. |
3. Is the project small enough for general open burning?
Piles:
< 50
piles and cold by sunset
OR
Broadcast:
< 10 acres of grass or < 5 acres of
any other fuel type |
yes |
Read about a general open burn smoke permit. |
| no |
Get a prescribed fire
smoke permit. Start with
basic
prescribed fire permit procedures. |
| not sure |
Contact us. |
Longer text version of criteria in table above:
In Colorado the purpose and size of a burn determine whether and what kind
of smoke permit is needed. The Air Quality Control Commission's
Regulation 9 lists the
burns that are exempt:
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Intense urban interface work of Platte Canyon
Fire Department's mitigation crew. Keeping firewood out of these
piles and building them small but tight and tall helps the
piles
burn down cleanly before evening inversions. |
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Burns for purposes other than
agriculture or forest management, such as disposal of trees cleared for
development or road construction or requests to burn lumber, need a
general open burn smoke permit. Open burning is a different kind of air
quality permit than prescribed fire permits.
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Forest management burns that are
very small are covered under general open burn permits.
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Larger burns for forest or
grassland management need a prescribed
fire permit.
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Air curtain burners
have special permitting requirements. Please contact the
general open burn staff at APCD.
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If you are burning household trash or animal parts or carcasses, or want
to cook on an open fire, read 'special situations.'
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Training burns big enough
otherwise to qualify as needing a prescribed fire smoke permit are
not exempt from air quality permits. However, if a training burn
involves structures or is small enough to
qualify for a general open burn permit, contact the
relevant person for open
burns in your county.
None of this discussion
about air quality and smoke permits addresses fire control.
Many counties and fire protection districts require that individuals,
businesses, and sometimes agencies who burn obtain a fire control
permit. A fire control permit is separate from and in addition
to an air quality smoke permit.
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