Forest Fire Danger Rating and Open Air Burning

Open air burning

Between April 1 and October 31 each year, open air burning is regulated by Burning Control By-law 2021-16. Daytime burning is not permitted. There are also size limits, clearance requirements, and fire control measures you must have in place as well as other provisions under the by-law which you must know if you decide to burn.

To learn more visit gravenhurst.ca/burnbylaw or contact the By-law Department.

The By-law Department is responsible for enforcing this by-law and you may be subject to prosecution if you are violating it.

Open air burning invoice

Town Council has authorized cost recovery for our response to violations of the Burning Control By-law through the User Fees and Service Charges By-law. This cost recovery is separate from any enforcement action that may be taken under the Burning Control By-law by the By-law Department.  

The User Fees and Service Charges By-law authorizes us to recover costs by sending an invoice to the property owner when we attend a fire where it can be shown that this occurred because somebody chose to disobey the law.

Invoices reflect a cost of $488.40 per hour per truck, which is the standard rate in Ontario, plus the cost of firefighter wages. Since we use volunteer firefighters, the cost of wages varies from day to day and from incident to incident.

We do not respond to simple open air burning complaints where there is no threat to public safety. These are referred to the By-law Department for investigation.