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Div. of Forestry to Suspend Burn Permits Starting May 1 Due to COVID-19
In anticipation of the impacts of COVID-19 on Alaska’s wildland firefighting resources this summer and in an attempt to reduce human-caused fires and limit exposure to firefighters, the Alaska Division of Forestry (DOF) will suspend all burn permits – both small- and large-scale – starting on May 1.
Alaska’s wildland fire suppression agencies need the public’s help more than ever to keep firefighters and communities safe.
According to DOF's announcement, "Alaskans must do everything possible to prevent wildland fires, limit the spread of COVID-19, and protect firefighters and the public. The suspension of burn permits will help firefighting agencies mitigate some of the significant challenges they’re likely to face this summer, including:
- An anticipated lack of firefighting resources available from the Lower 48 as a result of COVID-19 travel restrictions and quarantine requirements;
- The risk of exposing firefighters to higher risks of contracting and spreading COVID-19 when responding to human-caused nuisance fires;
- Limited firefighting resources available to respond to higher-priority wildland fires which may place lives, property and infrastructure in imminent danger."
Under the ban, the use of burn barrels, the burning of debris piles, and any other outdoor burning activity will be prohibited on all state, private and municipal lands throughout Alaska. Any person or business found to be violating this burn permit suspension order may be issued a citation to pay a fine or appear in court. This statewide burn permit suspension will not include cooking, warming or signaling fires that are less than three feet in diameter with flame lengths no more than two feet high. It also will not include commercially manufactured outdoor cooking and heating devices.
Those burning before May 1 are required to get a burn permit. If you live within Homer city limits, burn permits are required year round and can be obtained by calling the Homer Volunteer Fire Deptartment at 235-3155, Monday-Friday, 8am-5pm.
If you live outside city limits, a small- or large-scale burn permit is required by the DOF and are available free of charge www.forestry.alaska.gov/burn for download and printing out. A small-scale burn permit is required for anyone using a burn barrel, for burning debris piles less than 10 feet in diameter and four feet high, and for burning up to one acre of mowed grass less than four inches tall. Large-scale permits are required for burning that is larger or more complex than that allowed under a small-scale permit.
Please carefully read and closely follow the requirements of your permit. Also, continually monitor and constrain any burn piles, and when finished burning, ensure fires are completely extinguished and cold to the touch so they will not holdover, rekindle and escape as conditions grow warmer and drier.
For more information contact the Homer Volunteer Fire Department or Tim Mowry, Division of Forestry, Wildland Fire, Public Information Officer, (907) 356-5512, tim.mowry@alaska.gov.
