Sullivan County Burn Permit: Requirements, Rules, and Penalties

To burn brush, leaves, or limbs on your property in Sullivan County during Tennessee’s fire season, you need a free burn permit from the Tennessee Division of Forestry. Fire season runs from October 15 through May 15, and the permit is required any time you plan an open-air fire within 500 feet of a forest, grassland, or woodland. In a county as wooded as Sullivan, that covers most residential lots. You can get the Sullivan County burn permit online in a few minutes or by phone through the Division’s Elizabethton office, and you’ll need a new one for each day you burn.

When a Permit Is Required

Tennessee law makes it a misdemeanor to start an open-air fire between October 15 and May 15 within 500 feet of any forest, grassland, or woodland without a permit from the state forester or an authorized representative.¹ The state forester can extend the window past May 15 when hazardous conditions persist, so the end date can shift in dry years.

Outside fire season, the Division of Forestry does not require a permit.² Local ordinances and state air-quality rules still apply year-round, so check with your fire department before lighting anything in summer.

One carve-out matters: the state permit requirement does not apply inside the corporate limits of an incorporated city that has adopted its own fire ordinances.¹ If you live within Kingsport, Bristol, or Bluff City, call your city hall or fire department before relying on the state process.

How to Get the Permit

You have two options.

Online, the Division of Forestry’s permit portal is open seven days a week from 8:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m.² Enter your information and the system returns a permit number right away if conditions allow burning that day. On dry, windy days, the system simply will not issue one.

By phone, permits are available Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Central time, excluding holidays.³

Have this ready when you apply:

The physical address where the burning will take place
A phone number for whoever will be in charge of the fire
The type of debris and roughly how big the pile is

The permit is free. It is valid only for the specific date and location you request, so you’ll request a new one each burn day.

What You Can and Cannot Burn

A burn permit covers natural vegetation that grew on the property: brush, limbs, leaves, and untreated wood. The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation prohibits open burning of a long list of materials regardless of whether you hold a permit, including plastics and synthetics, tires and rubber, vinyl siding and shingles, coated wire, asphalt shingles, demolition and construction debris, asbestos-containing materials, cardboard and paper, household trash, aerosol and food cans, paints and chemicals, buildings and mobile homes, and most vegetation that was not grown on site.⁴

That last item surprises people. You cannot haul brush from a neighbor’s lot to yours and burn it under your permit. The debris generally needs to have originated on the land where you’re burning.

Rules While the Fire Is Burning

Before you light anything, clear a firebreak around the entire burn area. The Division of Forestry calls for bare ground at least three feet wide through leaves or short grass, and at least five feet wide through tall grass or brush.² Keep water and tools within reach, and stay clear of overhanging branches and utility lines.

Stay with the fire from the moment you light it until it is completely out and cooled.² Not smoldering. Dead out. Walking away from an active fire is a permit violation and the fastest route to civil liability for a wildfire.

If you are burning wooded land, give adjacent property owners at least two days’ advance notice. Failing to notify neighbors and take reasonable care to prevent the fire from spreading onto their land is a Class B misdemeanor.⁵

Weather can override a valid permit. Stop burning if winds pick up. In extreme fire-hazard conditions, the commissioner of agriculture can issue a county-wide ban on all open-air fire; violating that ban is charged as a Class A misdemeanor, a far more serious offense than a routine permit violation.¹

Penalties If Something Goes Wrong

Burning during fire season without a permit is a Class C misdemeanor, punishable by up to 30 days in jail and a fine of up to $50.⁶ Violating an emergency ban is a Class A misdemeanor.¹

The criminal fine is only one piece. Anyone who negligently or willfully sets a fire is civilly liable to the Division of Forestry for every dollar it spends suppressing it.⁵ Suppression bills climb fast once aircraft and crew time are involved, and this liability stacks on top of the criminal charge.

Burning prohibited materials can also trigger enforcement by the Department of Environment and Conservation, with civil penalties of up to $25,000 per day for each day a violation continues.⁴ That is the penalty that reaches homeowners burning trash, not just industrial sites.

If You Live Inside City Limits

Sullivan County includes several incorporated cities, and state law hands fire-ordinance authority to any city that adopts its own rules.¹ Kingsport has periodically issued complete burn bans through its fire marshal’s office. Bristol and Bluff City may impose their own restrictions as well. Call your local fire department before assuming the state permit covers you. Residents in unincorporated parts of the county follow the standard state process above.

1
Justia Law. Tennessee Code 39-14-306 – Setting Fires at Certain Times Without Permit
2
TN Wildland Fire. Get a Burn Permit in Tennessee
3
TN Wildland Fire. Get a Burn Permit in TennesseeStaff Directory – Tennessee Division of Forestry
4
Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation. Open Burning
5
TN Wildland Fire. Tennessee Wildfire Laws
6
Justia Law. Tennessee Code 40-35-111 – Authorized Terms of Imprisonment and Fines