During spring/summer and fall, Fire Dispatch gets lots of calls from neighbors calling in smokes, usually seen from a distance away, making the location difficult to pinpoint. Dispatch uses this list of permits (or calls the local fire warden) to determine the most likely spot for the FD to check first, otherwise it takes lots of time, manpower and expense. Even a fire tower, unless they can get a cross from another tower, only can approximate a location.
So, if everyone would (theoretically) get a permit, a smoke in the wrong place would be a bad thing
