Controlled burn cost

What is the going rate for getting someone to come out and perform a good burn?

Just to burn is around $20/acre as I recall. Dozer work is more.

I usually tell people $15/acre but prefer to look at the job first, at least on an aerial photo to see what's adjacent to the burn area. We burn some larger acreage tracts for less than $15 per acre for landowners who are on a burn rotation and burn hundreds of acres each year.
The forestry commission charges $20 for understory and $25 for site prep burning (you can find their rates on the AFC website.) This does not include the cost to install firebreaks. I would figure an additional $20-$25 for new fire breaks if you want them nice enough to maintain with a tractor in the future.

Bw is right. You might find some lower but rarely. Most are between $15-$20 plus firelane work.

Those are good prices. Be about $5/ac more in No AL

Call your county extension office. They may be able to set something up.

Might be able to get cost/share to help out, check with the local NRCS office.

We are enrolled in a CSP program through NRCS, so they cut us a check every year to do stuff like this. Definitely helps lighten the financial load, but I still want to make sure I am getting a good deal.

$17-$23 per acre

My last contract was $6/ac. Lines included.

I’m guessing somebody lost their tail on that deal

The only time I've ever heard of per acre cost that low is on large quail plantations where you can burn several hundred acres a day. With fire lanes included I don't see how anyone could make anything especially if it wasn't a really large tract. Even $16/acre would be cheap if it included fire lanes.

It was 750 acres and it is contracted to burn again at the same rate in 2019 so I don't guess they came out too bad.

What area was that? Depending on the tract that could still be good or bad

Washington County

I would suspect some program burn? If so the rest of us paid for the residual $10/ac the burner got paid.

No program. Simply open market bidding.

Sound awful cheap for someone that has a dozer, lo boy, insurance, burning equipment and the knowledge to do the burn correctly. They could raise their price $10/ac with lanes included and still probably win the bid. Whoever your client is getting that price is a lucky guy.

Having my own equipment and crew it cost me several times that to burn my own property. There’s gotta be more to the story than just $6/ac or the guy just loves paying you to burn your property. I don’t see how you could get close to breakeven at $6. My actual out of pocket expense is closer to $15/ac not including fire lanes. Our fire lanes cost several thousand dollars per mile to install, and that’s me operating my own dozer.

Damned consultants.

There is nothing ‘more’ to the story.


I think you are mistaken about your line installation cost. You shouldn’t be paying more than $350-450 per mile for one pass lines. If you are paying several thousand dollars for one mile of line, you are getting royally screwed. That is more than 20 hours of dozer time per mile.

Y’all got some hungry folks down there. I also have my own dozer and it cost me a hell of a lot more than $350 for a mile of line to be installed. Got to be a lot of equipment auctions in your area

I don’t know how they’re making any profit at $6/acre. I couldn’t even pay my help and cover costs for that.

According to the news report this guy contracted to burn for $55 per acre, but probably didn't get the result he wanted. I don't know if they have finalized the investigation yet.

https://www.tampabay.com/florida-po...e-is-known-and-respected-colleagues-say/

Maybe they burned all 750 acres in 1 or 2 trips and maybe there’s not much line pushing. Hell we’ve set up over 500 acres in couple hours.

I’m sure everyone would rather burn in Alabama for $6 than be in FL for $55, i know i would

Everybody knows that prescribed fire is an excellent, cost effective management tool to improve wildlife habitat. There seems to be a misconception that hundreds of acres need to be burned to make a difference. New research from MSU Deer Lab has demonstrated that small burns can be very beneficial. Micro-plots of 1/10th acres are beneficial. Just a few acres can drastically improve habitat. Think of it more like planting green fields rather than trying to burn your entire property