When Can You Burn in WV? Hours, Bans, and Penalties

In West Virginia, you can burn natural vegetation from your own yard or farm any day of the year, but during the state’s two forest fire seasons the hours are tightly limited: March 1 through May 31 and October 1 through December 31, open burning is legal only between 5:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m., and every fire must be fully out by 7:00 a.m.¹ Outside those two seasons the time-of-day rule drops off, but rules about what you burn, local ordinances, and burn bans still apply.

Fire Season Hours

The spring season runs March 1 through May 31. The fall season runs October 1 through December 31. On any day inside those windows, you cannot light an outdoor fire before 5:00 p.m., and anything you did light has to be fully extinguished by 7:00 a.m. the next morning. The law is built around the hours when humidity rises and winds typically settle, because dry vegetation and daytime wind are what turn a yard burn into a wildfire.¹

Fire-Season Exceptions

Two situations let you burn outside the 5-to-7 window during fire season without a permit:

Small, attended fires for cooking, warmth, or light are allowed any time of day, provided you clear all grass, brush, and debris for at least 10 feet around the fire.
If one inch or more of snow covers the ground around the burn site, you can burn at any hour.

Both exceptions still require someone to stay with the fire until it is completely out.¹

Burning From June Through September

From June 1 through September 30, the fire-season clock does not apply. You are not restricted to the evening-and-overnight window. The state’s air quality rule on open burning, 45 CSR 6, still runs year-round and still controls what you can put on the pile and prohibits any burning that harms the health, safety, or comfort of others.²

The Division of Environmental Protection recommends burning only in daylight and sizing piles so they are out before dark, drying vegetation for at least 10 days before burning, keeping wood pieces under eight inches in diameter before splitting, and never letting a fire smolder overnight.³

What You Can Actually Burn

The only material most residents can legally burn in the open is vegetation grown on the property of a home or farm: leaves, branches, brush, garden waste. Campfires and outdoor cooking fires are also allowed.⁴

Burning household trash is illegal in West Virginia, even in a burn barrel. Prohibited materials include household garbage such as paper and food packaging; construction and demolition debris including lumber, flooring, roofing, carpet, rubber, plastic, and foam; wooden pallets and shipping materials; tires and rubber products; asbestos-containing materials; insulation stripped from copper wire; and waste paints, waste oil, and solvents. Violations of the air quality open burning rule can bring fines up to $10,000 per day.⁴

Land-clearing debris from construction or development may be burned, but only with prior approval from the Division of Air Quality and only when no practical alternative disposal method exists.⁵

Safety Rules That Apply to Every Burn

Before you light anything, clear a safety strip around the pile that is wide enough to keep the fire contained. The strip can never be less than 10 feet wide, and for larger piles or windy conditions 10 feet may not be enough.¹ The fire has to be attended at all times, a shovel and water source need to be within reach, and a smoldering pile does not count as extinguished.

Burn Bans and Air Quality Overrides

Even when the calendar and the clock say burning is allowed, the Governor or the Director of the Division of Forestry can impose a burn ban that overrides every other permission. Bans usually come during extended dry periods, high winds, or elevated fire danger, and they can cover the whole state or specific counties.¹

The Division of Air Quality can separately prohibit all open burning during atmospheric stagnation, when smoke lingers instead of dispersing. While a stagnation advisory is in effect, no open burning of any kind is permitted.² Check fire danger ratings and the forecast before you light. A legal burn that blankets a neighbor’s home in smoke can still violate the nuisance provisions of the air quality rule.

Permits and Local Rules

Most residential burning of yard debris does not need a permit. Commercial operations, including manufacturing, mining, and public utilities, must obtain a burning permit from the Division of Forestry during fire season. The permit costs $125 per site and covers the fire season in which it is issued. Agricultural operations are exempt from the fee.¹ Land-clearing burns always require separate approval from the Division of Air Quality, no matter the time of year.⁵

Counties and municipalities often set rules stricter than the state baseline. Some localities ask you to call the non-emergency 911 line before a controlled burn so trucks are not dispatched when neighbors report smoke. Others shorten burn hours, ban open burning entirely within town limits, or require a local permit on top of any state permit. Call your local fire department or county office before burning to find out what applies where you live.

Penalties if You Burn at the Wrong Time

Violating the forest fire laws under West Virginia Code §20-3-5 is a misdemeanor. Conviction carries a fine between $100 and $1,000 per violation, plus a mandatory $200 civil penalty payable to the Division of Forestry within 60 days.¹ Air quality violations are separate and can run up to $10,000 per day for as long as the violation continues.⁴

The bigger exposure comes if the fire escapes. The state can recover every dollar it spends on suppression from the person whose negligence or legal violation caused the fire.⁶ A multi-acre brush fire that pulls in Division of Forestry crews, equipment, and aerial support can generate a bill that dwarfs any court-imposed fine. Setting a fire intentionally and maliciously is a separate felony under §61-3-6, with one to five years in prison, a fine up to $5,000, or both, and double the actual damages owed to anyone harmed.⁷

1
West Virginia Legislature. West Virginia Code 20-3-5 – Forest Fire Seasons; Prohibited and Permissible Fires; Burning Permits and Fees; Fire Control Measures; Criminal and Civil Penalties
2
Legal Information Institute. West Virginia Code of State Rules 45-6-3 – Open Burning Prohibited
3
West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection. Open Burning Brochure
4
WV Department of Environmental Protection. Burn Brochure
5
West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection. Application to Conduct Open Burning (Land Clearing Debris Only)
6
West Virginia Legislature. West Virginia Code 20-3-11 – Recovery of Costs Incurred in Fighting Fires
7
West Virginia Legislature. West Virginia Code 61-3-6 – Crimes and Their Punishment