Burn permits are issued under the authority granted by Nebraska State Statute 81-520.01 and are subject to the following rules and regulations adopted by the Southwest Rural Fire District:

1. The fire SHALL BE ATTENDED AT ALL TIMES with sufficient means on hand to control the burning, until the fire has completely burned out.  Burned brush, logs, or other solid materials must be covered with earth or thoroughly saturated with water before the attendant leaves the site.
2. No building materials, treated lumber, railroad ties, plastics, rubber, oil, pesticides, other hazardous waste, hazardous materials or household garbage shall be included in the fire at any time.
3. The fire(s) shall be at least 50 feet from your own building(s) and 300 feet from a neighboring building.
4. Open burning will not be permitted if the wind conditions exceed 15 mph: any such permit that was previously issued will be considered invalid if the wind exceeds 15 mph.
5. No fires shall be lit before and shall be extinguished prior to the times stated by the office issuing the permit.

6. An authorized representative of the Southwest Rural Fire Department may conduct on-site inspections at any time. Failure to follow these provisions governing the burning may lead to the revocation of this permit.
7. Any fire, which is out of control and results in the summoning of any fire department, is subject to possible legal action. The property owner and person supervising the burn accepts all financial responsibility for any costs Incurred (including fire suppression cost) if the fire becomes out of control.
8. The fire may be extinguished by Southwest Rural Fire Department regardless of whether a permit is issued if: (1) in the opinion of the officer, the conditions have changed and have become too dangerous to allow an open fire to continue burning; (2) if complaints are received regarding the fire/smoke; (3) if any of the above conditions of this permit have been violated.

IF THE FIRE BECOMES OUT OF CONTROL, CALL 911 IMMEDIATELY.

Please fill out the form below to apply.

**If the form is not present, we are not issuing burn permits at this time.**

Please allow up to 24 hours for response

(Email response will be from a swfire.org email address; please add to your safe senders list or check your junk/spam email folders.)

Updated October 10, 2025, at 2100 hrs.

We are not issuing burn permits at this time and ask you try again at a later date.

Once again, we find ourselves in an uncomfortable weather pattern regarding the approval or denial of burn permits due to public safety concerns. One day, the weather is just right for burning. Yet, the next two days feature sustained winds at fifteen miles per hour and wind gusts in the high twenties, with relative humidity in the low thirties, dipping into the twenties, and elevated temperatures, creating potentially dangerous fire conditions. 

Burn Permit issuance will be suspended until further notice (most likely until harvest is completed for our area farmers and the weather conditions stabilize).

The whys:

• Southwest Rural Fire will base its burn permit decisions on the forecast from the National Weather Service – Valley for this area.
  • No, we will not use the information from some random weather app you have on your phone.

 

• Southwest Rural Fire will always look at the days post-burn permit request to see what weather conditions indicate.
  • Why? History has taught us that, despite our efforts to educate and preach, burn permit holders often fail to fully extinguish their fire permits as instructed when the permit expires, resulting in the burn rekindling and spreading from the original burn site.

 

• Currently, our local farmers are working hard to harvest their annual crops. Every day that they are in the field with equipment presents the risk of a fire or medical emergency. Southwest Fire and Rescue needs to have our equipment and personnel ready to respond to those immediate needs, rather than trying to control a preventable burn or wildfire that could have waited for snowfall or more favorable weather conditions.

 

• There will be better days to burn your brush piles (snow on the ground).

 

• I’m sure that you have heard in the latest media blasts, staffing levels for ALL VOLUNTEER Fire and Rescue organizations are struggling to fill the boots with personnel and funding.
  • What can you do? If you are willing and able to serve, please fill out the membership inquiry form on this website. You will initially receive an automated reply. Your information is kept on file, and as Southwest Rural Fire and Rescue finalizes plans for a recruit class, we will host a meet-and-greet to discuss the requirements for serving. No, we won’t just throw you a pager, bunker gear, and an EMS bag; we will provide you with the training to become a highly trained responder. What we need from you is the commitment of time to attend training sessions and, ultimately, to respond to the 911 calls (approximately 300 annually). Facts:
    • EMS, yes, you will have to obtain your EMT license before or after being accepted for membership.
    • FIRE, yes, you will also have to fight fire.
    • WE are a dual department doing both Fire and EMS services.
    • Yes, you must live in our fire district or be within a close distance to our district (response area).

 

• So, if you have made it this far –
  • Based on a review of the National Weather Service – Valley forecast for the area, including the Southwest Fire District, burn permits have been suspended indefinitely. We will continue to monitor this decision regularly and reopen the permit process as soon as the weather allows.

We cannot stress enough that all vegetation is extremely dry right now and highly susceptible to fire danger, which can spread quickly and get out of control. Please do your part by being mindful of this and avoiding activities that could cause a fire. There will always be better days to burn your brush pile and grass.

To our DISTRICT FARMERS, we understand that mechanical issues can unfortunately happen. Please call 911 immediately if you are experiencing any fire or EMS emergencies. Additionally, if you have a tractor and a disk that are not currently in use, we would appreciate it if you could have them ready for deployment. In all our recent fires, local farmers have provided crucial assistance in containing these fires. We thank you all for your efforts in helping us manage these emergencies. If you can help with this and want to be added to a text notification list, please email chief@swfire.org

To say the least, YOUR VOLUNTEERS ARE EXHAUSTED.

Respectfully, Southwest Fire Chief.