Burn Law in Virginia: 4 PM Rule, Prescribed Burns, and Penalties

The burn law in Virginia limits open-air fires within 300 feet of woodland, brushland, or fields of dry grass to the hours between 4:00 PM and midnight from February 15 through April 30 each year. Outside that spring window, you can burn during the day, but year-round rules still require reasonable precautions, attendance at the fire, and complete extinguishment before you leave. Violations are a Class 3 misdemeanor, and if a wildfire starts, you owe the state the full cost of putting it out.

The 4 PM Burning Law

Under Virginia Code § 10.1-1142, if your fire sits in or within 300 feet of woodland, brushland, or a field with dry grass or other material that can carry fire, burning is only legal between 4:00 PM and midnight during the February 15 to April 30 period.¹ The rule applies in every county or city organized for forest fire control under the State Forester, which covers most of Virginia.

Two situations fall outside the seasonal restriction. Fires on federal land are not covered, and fires set to protect orchards or vineyards from frost or freezing are exempt because the agricultural need can’t wait for the season to end.¹

Year-Round Duties Whenever You Burn

The 4 PM rule is seasonal. Two other duties in the same statute apply every day of the year.

First, no landowner, lessee, or their employee may set fire to any woods, brush, leaves, grass, or other burnable material without first taking reasonable precautions to keep the fire from spreading to someone else’s land. That means clearing the ground around your burn site or stacking material so sparks don’t reach a neighbor’s property.¹

Second, if your fire is within 150 feet of any woodland, brushland, or field of dry grass, you must stay with it at all times and fully extinguish it before leaving. Walking inside for an hour while a debris pile smolders is where most summertime violations happen, and it’s a criminal offense even in July.¹

What Counts as an Open-Air Fire

The Department of Forestry defines an open-air fire as any outdoor fire that isn’t covered and contained within noncombustible barriers with smoke that doesn’t go through a chimney. A campfire, a bare burn barrel, and a brush pile all qualify.²

A backyard fire can fall outside the “open-air” category if it is completely enclosed inside a ring of rocks, cinder blocks, or metal and covered with a quarter-inch or smaller metal screen. Even then, you still have to attend the fire, clear flammable material from a 20-foot radius, and keep water, a rake, and a shovel within reach.²

Commercially manufactured chimineas and fire pits that are fully enclosed with a quarter-inch or smaller metal screen are not open-air fires and are legal during the restricted season if they’re in good condition. Charcoal and gas barbecue grills are exempt. Open charcoal grills of the kind found at public parks, however, are treated as open-air fires and must follow the 4 PM rule.²

What You Can Burn

Air Pollution Control Board regulation 9VAC5-130-40 spells out the categories of open burning that are allowed. For homeowners, the most common is on-site destruction of leaves, tree trimmings, and yard debris on private property, but only where no regularly scheduled collection service for that material is available at the nearest street or public road. If your locality picks up yard waste at the curb, you’re expected to use it.³

Other permitted burns include:

Campfires and recreational fires used solely for recreation, ceremonies, outdoor cooking, or warming outdoor workers, provided no prohibited materials are burned.³
Household waste burned by a homeowner or tenant on their own property, again only where no regularly scheduled collection service is available.
Burns approved by the Air Pollution Control Board to eliminate public health or safety hazards with no practical alternative, including debris from floods, hurricanes, and other natural disasters.

Every permissible burn must still comply with the prohibited-materials rules and any local ordinance.

What You Cannot Burn

Regulation 9VAC5-130-30 bans certain materials from open burning outright. No time of day, permit, or exemption makes them legal:

Rubber and petroleum products, including tires, asphaltic materials, and crankcase oil.⁴
Treated or impregnated wood, such as lumber treated with arsenic or chromium preservatives.
Any hazardous waste or containers that held hazardous materials.
Commercial and industrial waste, including material burned for salvage operations.

The Air Pollution Control Board can also stop all open burning immediately during an air pollution episode or any time burning would create an unreasonable burden on public health.

Prescribed Burns and Local Burn Bans

Certified prescribed burn managers can burn during the February 15 to April 30 restricted period, but only under a written prescription approved by the State Forester before February 1 of that year, and only for controlling invasive species that can’t be handled another way, maintaining wildlife habitat that requires a spring burn, or managing natural heritage resources. The State Forester can still revoke permission on the day of the burn if fire conditions are hazardous, and a manager who violates the rules can lose certification.¹

Local rules can be stricter than state law, never weaker. Individual counties and cities can ban open burning year-round, require a permit from the fire marshal, or restrict burning to specific days, and many densely populated jurisdictions do. Localities can also impose temporary burn bans during drought or elevated fire danger, and those bans override what state law would otherwise allow.⁵ Before lighting anything, check with your local fire marshal’s office or the Department of Forestry for active restrictions.

Penalties, Suppression Costs, and Civil Liability

Any violation of § 10.1-1142, whether it’s the 4 PM restriction, the precaution requirement, or the attendance rule, is a Class 3 misdemeanor for each separate offense.¹ A Class 3 misdemeanor carries a fine of up to $500.⁶

The fine is usually the smallest part of the bill. If a forest fire starts because you violated the statute, you owe the Commonwealth every dollar spent suppressing it. The Department of Forestry will bill you for personnel, equipment, and aircraft, which can run from a few hundred dollars to tens of thousands depending on how far the fire spread.¹

A separate statute, Virginia Code § 18.2-88, adds civil and criminal exposure for harm to neighbors. Anyone who carelessly, negligently, or intentionally sets fire to woods, brush, or other material that can spread fire, and damages or endangers another person’s property, is guilty of a Class 4 misdemeanor and liable for all expenses of fighting the fire.⁷ That statute targets damage to a neighbor’s property specifically, on top of what you already owe the state for suppression.

1
Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code 10.1-1142 – Regulating the Burning of Woods, Brush, Etc.; Penalties
2
Virginia Department of Forestry. 4 PM Burning Law
3
Virginia Code Commission. 9VAC5-130-40 – Permissible Open Burning
4
U.S. EPA. Virginia Regulation for Open Burning – 9VAC5-130-30
5
Virginia Department of Forestry. Burning Restrictions
6
Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code 18.2-11 – Punishment for Conviction of Misdemeanor
7
Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code 18.2-88 – Carelessly Damaging Property by Fire