PERRY — The Perry District of the Florida Forest Service, which serves Dixie, Lafayette, Madison and Taylor counties, will be offering a Certified Pile Burner Course on April 12 at the Mayo Community Center. This course allows participants who successfully complete the pile burn certification program to become a certified pile burner. The Florida Forest Service will teach burners how to legally, safely and efficiently burn to reduce landfill waste and manage the land effectively.

The Certified Pile Burn Course is a great opportunity to educate the general public and professional land clearing contractors on the state’s open burning regulations. Most importantly, it could prevent serious situations of escaped pile burns that may damage many forest acres or endanger homes. Also, when the weather is dry and authorizations are being restricted, certified pile burners will often still be allowed to burn. Certified pile burners are allowed to burn up to two hours longer per day, get multiple day authorizations, and receive further consideration under the laws pertaining to open burning. 

Under the current program the certification needs no renewal as long as the burner gets a burn authorization at least 5 times in a period of 5 years. After completing the course, participants must complete a pile burn to be reviewed by a Florida Forest Service official within one year. The registration cost is $50 per person for the course, which includes: lunch, training materials and testing. Participants must be at least 18 years old to take the test to be a certified pile burner. For more information or to register, please contact the local Florida Forest Services office at 386-294-1001.

The Florida Forest Service, a division of the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, manages more than 1 million acres of state forests and provides forest management assistance on more than 17 million acres of private and community forests. The Florida Forest Service is also responsible for protecting homes, forestland and natural resources from the devastating effects of wildfire on more than 26 million acres. Learn more at FloridaForestService.com.