Bonfire Policy

Anyone wishing to conduct a bonfire or campfire must follow the below procedures. Conducting a live fire event on campus constitutes the following of the Guilford College policies and procedures, the State of North Carolina Fire Prevention Code, the City of Greensboro Fire Ordinance and Guilford County Environmental Health policies.

Step 1: You must have a permit to burn before conducting your bonfire/campfire.

Step 2: The only area on campus to conduct a bonfire/campfire is at the ‘burn pit’ located next to the lake (off Nathan Hunt Rd.). No burning is permitted at any other location on campus. This is an illegal burn and penalties and fines will result to those responsible.

Step 3: (Students only), to obtain a permit to burn you must first seek approval with the Director of Student Engagement and Leadership. You must meet with the Director no less than (10) days prior to the date of the bonfire/campfire. If approved, the Director will contact the Office of Public Safety and Facilities – Grounds and Landscaping.

Step 4: (Students/Faculty/Staff), go to the Office of Public Safety located in the lower level of Bauman and fill out a burn permit. The information we need on this form includes the signature of the responsible party who hold the permit during the entire event, the date of the fire and the start and end time of the fire. The burn permit will have strict information you must follow during the fire event.

Step 5: The Office of Public Safety will fax the permit to the City of Greensboro Fire Prevention Office. If approved by the fire inspector, his/her office will fax back to the Office of Public Safety. This process may take (2) days.

Step 6: The Office of Public Safety will contact the person who signed for the permit. You must go by the Office of Public Safety to get a copy of the permit. You must have this permit with you during the fire event. In addition, the Office of Public Safety will contact Facilities-Grounds/Landscaping of the approved permit.

Step 7: Safety to life and property must prevail before, during and after the fire event. Means to extinguish the fire must be available. A bucket for lake water will suffice. At the end of the fire event, the responsible person holding the permit must assure the complete extinguishment of the fire.

Note: A permit to burn may be canceled for various reasons. This includes but not limited to:

1. Weather conditions (extremely dry conditions and/or windy conditions.) The City of Greensboro Fire Marshal’s Office will issue a ban on burning. However, if the on-set of these events occur very rapidly (with little to no prior notice) the college reserves the right to cancel the fire event.
2. Air quality. Guilford County Environmental Health may cancel all burn permits due to expected high ozone levels. Burning is permissible during level green and level yellow days only. Environmental Health issues a 2-3 day air quality level forecast in advance. Conditions may change rapidly. Therefore, the college reserves the right to cancel fire events if necessary.

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