KENNEBEC JOURNAL • October 28, 2021
When Talis Jordans decided to burn Thursday, he did not give it a second thought. Jordans went to the online platform his town uses to issue burn permits, filled out the form and was ready to go in a few minutes. Now, anyone across Maine can do virtually the same thing, thanks to a law that went into effect earlier this month that puts the state’s burn permit system on the same footing at the privately operated systems that cities and towns have been using for nearly a decade. The law — L.D. 268 — ends the $7 fee the Maine Forest Service had been charging for online burn permits, making the single-day permits free of charge. It also allows privately operated systems to charge municipalities for their service if they choose.