Last Updated: · Written by Sunward Palm Coast Land Clearing
Rarely on a platted lot, sometimes on acreage. Florida’s rules set residential pile burns at least 300 feet from any occupied building other than the owner’s, 100 feet from paved public roads and 50 feet from brush, with Florida Forest Service authorization. No Palm Coast lot between neighbors can meet that, and Flagler County’s drought burn bans stop even qualifying burns. Sunward Palm Coast Land Clearing plans the debris on most jobs as mulch or haul-off for that reason, and we price it into the scope from the start.
In short
- Residential pile burns: 300 ft from occupied buildings (not the owner’s), 100 ft from paved roads, 50 ft from wildlands or brush.
- Non-residential without an air curtain incinerator: 1,000 ft.
- Authorization comes from the Florida Forest Service; a site can burn for six months or less.
- Flagler County declares county-wide burn bans during drought.
The rules
Florida Statute 590.125 treats pile burning of land clearing debris that originates on site as open burning authorized by the Florida Forest Service, and limits authorized pile burning to the same site for six months or less. The setbacks come from the Florida Administrative Code, rule 5I-2.006. For residential pile burning the pile must be 300 feet or more from any occupied building other than the landowner’s, 100 feet from paved public roads and 50 feet from wildlands or brush. Non-residential burning without an air curtain incinerator needs 1,000 feet. Exceptions are possible only with the written agreement of all affected parties. Tree-cutting debris on residential premises of no more than two family units may be burned on site under the pile burning rules.
Why it rules out Palm Coast lots
A typical vacant Palm Coast lot is about a third of an acre, often with homes on both sides and across the street. A 300-foot circle around a pile covers several hundred feet in every direction, well beyond the lot, so occupied homes are always inside it. The guide to clearing a lot to build explains how we plan debris as mulch or haul-off from the first lot walk.
Wondering where the wood will go?
The debris plan is part of the scope, priced in, not added later.
When acreage can qualify
On acreage in unincorporated Flagler County, a burn site in the middle of a large parcel can sometimes meet the setbacks. Then the Forest Service authorization, the weather and any burn ban decide it. Flagler County declares county-wide burn bans during drought, and dry spells and the burn bans that come with them are part of the area’s fire weather. When a plan depends on burning, we keep mulching or hauling ready as the fallback.
What happens instead
On most of our jobs the debris goes one of two ways. We grind brush and small wood into mulch with a forestry mulcher and spread it on the lot away from the building area, which costs nothing to dispose of and covers the sand. We load the logs, stumps and organic soil from grubbing and haul them to a facility that accepts land clearing debris.
Hauling costs depend on the distance and the facility. In neighboring counties, the state’s annual table of solid waste fees lists yard trash at $31.44 a ton in Volusia County and $31.00 in Putnam County, with Volusia construction and demolition debris at $38.78. Flagler County’s guidelines for unincorporated areas also note that contractor-generated yard waste, such as land clearing, isn’t collected by the curbside hauler unless the resident arranges and pays for it directly. The cost guide shows where haul-off sits in a clearing price.
Air curtain incinerators
The 1,000-foot setback for non-residential burning drops when an air curtain incinerator is used: a fan blowing a curtain of air over a pit or box, which burns the wood hotter and with far less smoke. These units make sense on large commercial or land development sites with a lot of wood, not on a single home lot, and they still need authorization and are subject to burn bans. On most commercial sites near Palm Coast, we find grinding the wood on site or hauling it simpler.
Mulch or haul?
Mulching costs less and leaves the sand covered, but it can’t go under a slab and a thick layer near the house is dry fuel in drought. Hauling leaves the lot clean for the builder but costs more in trucking. On a typical building lot the answer is a mix, as the mulching or clearing guide explains. Whatever stays on site, we keep out of the swale, which the owner is responsible for keeping clear, as the after clearing guide covers.
Planning what happens to the debris?
Send the lot address and size; the debris plan is part of every clearing scope.