Online Permit Application
GFC issues about 90,000 or more burn permits per year. Every one of these is a phone call that mostly goes to our two response centers. During peak times, the wait times can be long, and this forces us to dedicate trained dispatchers to answer each call. The agency has seen the need to move to some sort of online permit system for several years, but over the last year I have decided to put this solution into action. Due to GA laws, national emissions standards, smoke impacts, and many other factors, this is a complicated issue that requires a lot of thought. I have put together a team of my staff to work on this and we have begun working with an outside tech company to create a user friendly mobile friendly app for users to apply for and get a burn permit. We are still in the planning stages but are actively working with the vendor via weekly calls to make this a reality. We do have a beta version that we are testing at this point and we hope to be able to go live with the application by October of this year.
“My goal is to create a user friendly, customer service oriented application for landowners and burners to apply for and receive a burn permit online. This app will reduce the number of phone calls over time that our response centers have to deal with, allowing our trained wildland fire dispatchers to focus on emergency calls and keeping track of our wildland firefighters. There should also be a fair amount of cost savings as we greatly reduce the number of phone calls over time. This will also allow for better customer service by reducing wait times and will be a user friendly app that is easy to understand and use.”