If you live inside the City of Carterville, you may no longer burn anything at any time.  This rule is one passed by the city council without consultation or our recommendation.  If you disagree with this new "no burning at all" law, you should contact your local councilperson.  If you don't know who that person is, City Hall will be able to help you.  If you live outside Carterville but within the Central Jasper County Fire Protection District, you can obtain a burning permit at no charge by contacting Station 51 at 206-7685 or by completing our on-line burn permit application. Please read the rules and follow the steps below to obtain a permit to burn.

The Rules

• Open fires must be located at least 50 feet from any structure unless you're burning in a covered burn barrel.
• Burn barrels can be used and must be covered by a wire screen with a mesh small enough to prevent burning embers and sparks from passing through.  Covered burn barrels must be located at least 15 feet from any structure.
• Material burned in the open can be in a pile no larger than 5 ft. by 5 ft. by 5 ft.
• Only twigs, brush, leaves, grass, and untreated sawn wood may be burned.  If it's not one of these five items, you can't burn it.
• You specifically may not burn household trash or garbage, cardboard, or paper.
• You must have a garden hose or other sufficient source of water on hand in the area where you plan to burn.
• Fires must be constantly attended until they're completely out (no smoldering or visible smoke).
• Fires must be completely out, or be put out by dark (no smoldering or visible smoke).
• If your fire gets out of control, call 9-1-1 immediately.  Don't call the police or our business line, use the 9-1-1 system to avoid dangerous delays in our response.

The Steps

Check the weather. 

Check the wind conditions above.  

If the wind speed is, or is trending upward toward being over 10 MPH, we probably won't be issuing burning permits.  Check the relative humidity above.  

If the relative humidity is below 40%, we won't be issuing burning permits.

If the wind looks calm and the relative humidity is above 40%, proceed to the next step below.

Apply for a Permit to Burn

Use the On-Line Application

-or-

Call the fire station at 673-3070.  We'll ask you for some information and enter your address on a list of places we've issued burning permits to.  The permit is verbal.  That's all there is to it.  However, we're a volunteer department. We don't get paid. There's not always someone there to answer the non-emergency business line.  Therefore, you might want to consider taking advantage of the on-line application.