Guide

Fire: what is burning, and burn bans

Checked October 2, 2026 against the Florida Forest Service and the National Interagency Fire Center.

The Fire tile on a Florida board answers two questions: is anything burning near here, and is my county under a burn ban.

Burn bans: the Forest Service’s map

The Florida Forest Service, part of the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, keeps a map of county burn bans with one row for every county. The tile reads it and shows each county on the board.

• The bans are the counties’. A county commission sets a ban, usually in a drought. In the Forest Service’s own words, it “does attempt to keep up with all of the burn bans,” but the counties do not have to tell it when they set or lift one. So no ban on the tile does not mean you may burn. Ask your county or city fire department.
• A yard debris ban stops the burning of yard waste: grass clippings, brush, leaves, limbs and palm fronds. A full burn ban is wider. The tile says which the map shows.
• Without any ban, yard waste may be burned without an authorization only under the Forest Service’s rules: a pile under 8 feet across, set back from woods, roads and buildings, lit after 8 a.m. Central or 9 a.m. Eastern, and out an hour before sunset. Land clearing and other larger burns need a burn authorization from the Forest Service.

What is burning: the interagency list

The fires on the tile come from the National Interagency Fire Center’s list of current wildfires, the same list the live map draws. The tile shows wildfires in the board’s counties or close enough to matter, and leaves out prescribed burns. A fire that is fully contained drops off a week after it was found.

• It is not every fire. The list holds fires reported to the federal and state fire agencies. County fire rescue puts out most brush fires on this coast without them, and those never reach it. An empty list means nothing nearby has been reported to it. It does not mean nothing is burning.
• Acres and per cent contained are the last figures reported, not live measurements. Contained does not mean out.
• Distance is a straight line from your town to the point the fire was reported from, not a driving distance, and it says nothing about where the smoke will go.

Which counties each board shows

• Perdido Key to Destin: Escambia, Santa Rosa and Okaloosa counties.
• Freeport to Mexico Beach: Walton and Bay counties.
• Port St. Joe to Suwannee: Gulf, Franklin, Wakulla, Taylor and Dixie counties.
• Cedar Key to New Port Richey: Levy, Citrus, Hernando and Pasco counties.
• Tarpon Springs to Holmes Beach: Pinellas, Hillsborough and Manatee counties.
• Longboat Key to Bonita Springs: Sarasota, Charlotte and Lee counties.
• Naples to Chokoloskee: Collier County.
• Fernandina Beach to Flagler Beach: Nassau, Duval, St. Johns and Flagler counties.
• Ormond Beach to Palm Bay: Volusia and Brevard counties.
• Sebastian to Hobe Sound: Indian River, St. Lucie and Martin counties.
• Jupiter to Cutler Bay: Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade counties.
• Key Largo to Key West: Monroe County.

A fire just over a county line can still be on the tile, if it is close enough to a town on the board.

If you see a fire

Call 911. Nothing on this site reports a fire to anyone.

Sources

• Florida Forest Service, burn bans — the county rows the tile reads
• Florida Forest Service, open burning in Florida FAQ — who sets a burn ban, and why the map may not have it
• Florida Forest Service, burn authorizations — what needs one, and the rules for yard waste
• National Interagency Fire Center, open data — the current wildfire list (WFIGS incident locations)