06/21/2025
*** FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE***
Warden’s Report will be discontinuing its service at the end of the year 2025. Warden's Report was developed in 2011 and offered to the public in 2012 with a goal to make all burning permits available free of charge to all Maine residences. This goal became reality in October of 2021, when LD 268 was passed into law, doing away with the States $7 fee per permit.
These changes would have never happened if WE didn’t come together and force change.
For those who don’t know the history, Warden’s Report was started in West Gardiner (with approval from the department of ACF) to streamline burning permits and offset cost to the town to have wardens issue them. After going live in 2012 the service quickly gained interest from surround towns. In 2017 the service had spread throughout Southern and Central Maine, adding more than 70 towns. That year, the department of ACF released a statement saying the originial approval of private burn permit systems was an error, and any municipality or resident using those systems could be in violation of state law and subject to charges. Warden’s Report was forced to shut down. Fire officials, residence, Town Officials and other members of the more than 70 communities using the service jumped into action contacting their state representatives. Ultimately July 2017 LD 1640 was passed and Warden’s Report was back in service.
From 2017 to now Warden’s Report has worked with more than 170 communities across Maine, offered close to 500,000 permits since it start in 2012. If those were all seven dollar payments that’s more than a $3 million savings, money that was able to stay in our communities.
The department of ACF has been working hard to update their system, and we feel it is important that they oversee online burning as they will be the ones responding with local fire departments to escaped fires.
Attached is a copy of the sent to town administrators.
