Title 12, Title 12

The director shall be responsible for the control of forest fires in all areas of the State. In carrying out these duties, the director shall have an unbroken chain of command down to, and including, town forest fire wardens.

1. Administrative units. The director shall have the authority to divide the State into administrative units so as to most effectively provide for protection against loss or damage by forest fires. 2. Equipment. The director may establish lookout stations connected by telephone a…

1. Form. The Director of the Bureau of Forestry, referred to in this section as the "director," shall designate the Uniform Summons and Complaint as the citation form to be used by the Maine Forest Service, except that the director may permit the use of any citation forms approve…

1. Establishment of fund. The Aerial Fire Suppression Fund, referred to in this section as "the fund," is established through the Office of the State Controller as a nonlapsing fund under the jurisdiction of the bureau to ensure the viability of its aerial fire suppression progra…

1. Determination by director. The director shall inform the Governor when the director determines that: A. A high degree of forest fire danger exists in any part of the State; and [PL 1979, c. 545, §3 (NEW).] B. Human activity is likely to pose a forest fire menace. [PL 1995, c. …

As used in this subchapter, the following terms have the following meanings. [PL 1995, c. 586, §3 (NEW).] 1. Licensed camping facility. "Licensed camping facility" means a recreational camp, youth camp or camping area licensed under Title 22, section 2495.

1. General. The Governor may, in a proclamation issued under section 9001, exempt from the prohibitions specified in the proclamation human activities or out-of-door fires that the Governor determines are not a significant menace to the forests. 2. Certain public campsites. The G…

The proclamation must be published in such newspapers of the State and posted in such places as the Governor considers necessary and a copy of that proclamation must be filed with the Secretary of State. A copy must be furnished to the director, who shall attend to the posting an…

If, after issuing the proclamation provided for in section 9001, by reason of rains or otherwise the Governor is satisfied that the occasion for the issuance of the proclamation has passed, the Governor may amend, repeal and replace it by another proclamation affecting the sectio…

1. Violation of proclamation. Notwithstanding section 9701, any person who in fact violates the provisions of a proclamation issued under section 9001 commits a Class E crime. 2. Violation at licensed camping facility. Notwithstanding subsection 1 and section 9701, a person who i…

Responsibility for the control of forest fires in municipalities lies in the first instance with the town forest wardens appointed for these municipalities by the director. When in the judgment of a forest ranger the situation so warrants, the forest ranger may relieve a town for…

Forest rangers and town forest fire wardens may employ any person considered necessary to assist in fighting forest fires. All called and employed for assistance shall proceed to help control forest fires as directed by the forest ranger or forest fire warden in charge.

Town forest fire wardens shall receive compensation for forest fire fighting services at the prevailing rate in the town. Labor and equipment may be provided by individuals or goups on a forest fire without pay. All requested assistance, persons or equipment used in fighting fore…

Municipalities shall pay the costs for controlling and extinguishing forest fires up to 1/4 of 1% of their state valuation on a calendar year basis. These costs must be approved by the forest fire warden in charge. A municipality going to the aid of another, even to protect itsel…

All forest fire suppression costs in municipalities in an amount greater than 1/4 of 1% of the state valuation of the municipality in which the fire occurred, excluding any costs for use or loss of that municipality's municipally owned equipment, must be paid by the State on a ca…

Responsibility for the control of forest fires in the unorganized territory lies with the State. The unorganized territory shall reimburse the State for the costs of controlling and extinguishing forest fires up to 1/4 of 1% of the state valuation of the unorganized territory. Th…

Town forest fire wardens and state forest rangers shall promptly prepare a report of their investigation of the cause, extent and damage on all forest fires in their charge. They shall prepare an exact and detailed statement of expenses incurred therein immediately after total ex…

Any municipal or private dump within the State established and maintained for the disposal of solid waste, as defined in Title 38, section 1303, which might facilitate either the origin or spread of forest fires shall be operated under the following preventive measures: A strip 1…

A municipal or private dump within the State not carrying out this subchapter shall be posted as "Closed to Dumping" by the town forest fire warden, or the director. Thereafter no person shall deposit refuse of any kind within, along the road leading to, or on land adjacent to su…

A person may not deposit refuse of any kind on land not the person's own without the consent of the owner or the public authority having custody or maintenance responsibility of that land.

Any municipality in which a municipal dump has been posted "Closed to Dumping" as set forth in this subchapter, which continues to permit dumping therein, shall, during that period, lose the benefits of state reimbursement of forest fire suppression costs on fires which escape fr…

1. Criteria. In issuing any permit or permission for allowable burning, the director shall consider the following criteria: A. Forest fire danger indices and location of proposed burning; [PL 1979, c. 545, §3 (NEW).] B. The time of day and season of the year; [PL 1979, c. 545, §3…

1. Possession and production of permit in organized territory. Any person, firm or corporation that engages in out-of-door burning in any municipality, plantation or village corporation as permitted by this article shall possess the permit at the scene of the burning and shall pr…

As used in this article, unless the context otherwise indicates, the following terms have the following meanings. [PL 2023, c. 56, §3 (NEW).] 1. Licensed camping facility. "Licensed camping facility" means a recreational camp, youth camp or camping area licensed under Title 22, s…

1. Permits. No person may kindle or use an out-of-door fire in the unorganized territory unless a permit has been obtained from the director. The director may issue a permit on lands of another unless the majority ownerships of the land have withdrawn permission in writing to the…

1. Prohibition. No person shall kindle or use a fire for clearing land or burning logs, stumps, roots, brush, slash, fields of grass, pasture or blueberry lands without a permit from the director. 2. Jurisdiction. The requirement for a permit under this section shall apply statew…

1. Extinguishment of fire. Whoever by himself or by his servant, agent or guide or as the servant, agent or guide of any other person shall build a camp, cooking or other fire or use an abandoned camp, cooking or other fire in or adjacent to any woods in this State, shall, before…

1. Permissible open burning with permit. When not prohibited by statute, rule of any state agency or local ordinance, the types of burning described in this subsection are allowed provided that a permit has been obtained from the town forest fire warden or from the forest ranger …

The Director of the Bureau of Forestry shall develop or cause to be developed a system to electronically issue permits for burning in all areas of the State using a publicly accessible site on the Internet. [PL 2013, c. 35, §1 (AMD); PL 2013, c. 405, Pt. A, §23 (REV).] The system…

The Director of the Bureau of Forestry shall allow a municipality to use burn permit software acquired from a private party to establish a publicly accessible online system to issue a permit to burn pursuant to section 9325 if the issuance of a permit to burn using the private pa…

For the purposes of this Part "slash" is defined as branches, bark, tops, chunks, cull logs, uprooted stumps and broken or uprooted trees and shrubs left on the ground as a result of logging, right-of-way construction or maintenance and land clearance.

A stumpage owner, operator, landowner or agent who cuts or causes or permits to be cut any forest growth on lands that are within or border the right-of-way of a public highway within the State shall dispose of the slash that is within the right-of-way or within 50 feet of the ne…

1. Stumpage owner. A stumpage owner, operator, landowner or agent who cuts or causes or permits to be cut any forest growth on lands that are within or border the right-of-way of a railroad, a pipeline or an electric power, telegraph, telephone or cable line may not place slash o…

A person who, as stumpage owner, operator, landowner or agent, cuts, causes or permits to be cut any forest growth on land that borders land of another outside the limits of the unorganized territory or within the unorganized territory that borders property outside shall dispose …

The director, by written notice to any stumpage owner, operator, landowner or agent cutting forest growth, may require the removal of slash within 100 feet of buildings and trailers currently used for human occupancy when, in the director's judgment, that slash constitutes an unu…

All slash resulting from cutting of forest growth shall be removed the required distances under this Article and scattered or chipped and not piled in windrows within 30 days after cutting or within 30 days of notification to remove by the director, as provided.

All primary processors of wood products, including, but not limited to, sawmills, except a person processing for that person's own domestic use, and owners of lands on which those processing plants are located shall keep any slash resulting from cutting forest growth removed for …

Failure to comply with the slash disposal requirements of this Article shall subject the person responsible to a penalty as set forth in section 9701.

No person may place any trailer, camper, shelter or tent from May 1st to November 30th at any public campsite maintained or authorized pursuant to section 1825, subsection 4 and keep that trailer, camper, shelter or tent so located, vacant or occupied, for more than 14 days in an…

Whenever in the judgment of the director the woodlands along the railroads traversing the forest lands of the State are in a dry and dangerous condition, the director shall maintain a competent and efficient fire patrol along the right-of-way or lands of those railroads if, in th…

All fires starting upon the right-of-way of any railroad or lands adjacent thereto shall be immediately reported to the forest ranger or town forest fire warden by any railroad employee stating the location and origin of such fire and, if the fire was started by a locomotive, the…

The director shall keep, or cause to be kept, an account of the cost of maintenance by the State of such fire patrol along the line of such railroad, including therein the wages and expenses of the employees engaged in maintaining such fire patrol, and the total cost thereof shal…

Nothing in sections 9401 to 9403 shall be construed as releasing any railroad company from any damage caused by fires set by their locomotives or employees.

A person, firm or corporation operating a railroad on or through forest, brush, grass-covered land or areas of high-value property shall maintain its right-of-way according to the minimum standards established in this section by destroying, removing, or modifying so as not to be …

Every railroad operating locomotives powered by diesel or other type fuel shall equip the same with devices designed to prevent the escape of live coals, sparks or carbon deposits which may cause fires. Employees shall exercise due care to keep such devices in effective operating…

1. Illegal operation. A person is guilty of illegal operation of power-driven equipment if that person knowingly: A. Operates power-driven equipment in, through or within 1,000 feet of forest lands without an approved spark arrester; [PL 1989, c. 174, §7 (NEW).] B. Requires the o…