Outdoor Burning Requirements & Guidelines

GUIDELINES

• When doing any outdoor burning, year around, only natural, vegetative material can be burned outdoors.  This includes debris from trees, shrubs, and gardens, and grass clippings 
• Open burning of garbage is illegal
• Open burning of the following materials are illegal 

1.   Household trash (burn barrels and/or piles) including paper products – such as cardboard boxes, etc.
2.   Construction, building, or demolition materials (examples:  lumber, flooring, roofing material, carpet, plastic, styrofoam, etc.  
3.   Wood pallets and other packaging materials
4.   Tires or other rubber products
5.   Asbestos-containing materials  
6.   Insulation from copper wire 
7.   Waste paints, waste oil, or solvents  

• Fire must be attended at all times and completely extinguished before 7 a.m.  
• All fires must have a ring or safety strip.  The safety strip itself must be cleared of burnable material and be at least 10 feet wide, fully encompassing the debris pile.  Keep a shovel and water source nearby. 
• No burning in barrels
• No burning in streets and/or alleys
• A landowner must take all practicable means to suppress any fire on his property.  If a fire escapes, the individual responsible will be liable for the cost of fighting the fire and any damage the fire may have caused.  Fire violation is subject to the appropriate fines, court cost, civil penalties, and/or clean-up expenses.   
• Be a good neighbor.  Always consider the proximity to others, wind directions and other weather conditions.    If open burning becomes a nuisance to any person or property and law enforcement receives a complaint, you may be instructed to extinguish the controlled burn.   

REMEMBER:  CALL (304) 574-3590 NON-EMERGENCY NUMBER at 9-1-1 PRIOR TO OUTDOOR BURNING