New burn resolution proposed
Staff writer
Concerned citizens may comment on proposed changes to a county burn resolution passed seven years ago at a public hearing at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at Marion County Lake Hall.
Lincolnville fire chief Les Kaiser and Hillsboro fire chief Ben Steketee talked to county commissioners Nov. 27 about the changes proposed by a committee that reviewed the resolution.
“We didn’t change that much from the original,” Kaiser said.
To be added is a new website for county residents to consult before deciding to burn and a requirement was added that three days of coming weather be checked before lighting a brush fire.
Also added is a quadrant map.
The old resolution prohibited burning when any part of the county was in high fire risk. The proposed amendment divides the county into four areas. Burning will still be allowed in quadrants where risk is not high.
“The brush piles have been our largest problem,” Kaiser said. “We’ve put a 72-hour window on brush pile burns. If you’re going to burn today, you need to look at the next three days.”
Brush piles can burn for several days, he said.
Steketee backed him up on that.
“When we get into a high burn risk, I look at the brush piles we’ve had in the past few days and I go visit them,” Steketee said. “I have the luxury of doing that because I’m full-time.”
Getting landowners to consult burn risk and notify dispatch in advance of the fire is necessary, Kaiser said.
“The biggest factor is getting people to notify dispatch before they burn,” he said. “But we’ve seen marked improvement in our district.”
Burning at night is discouraged because of risk to emergency response personnel and people attending the fire.
The website to be used by dispatchers to find fire conditions would change under the amendments.
Violation of burn regulations would be considered a misdemeanor, subject to a fine of $500 to $5,000 and 30 days in jail.
If a fire department is called to a fire and the landowner has not complied with notification requirements and safety precautions, fines will be assessed.
Non-compliant people could be assessed $21 to $165 per hour with a minimum of two hours to pay for fire vehicles, $35-per-firefighter hourly with a minimum of two hours, cost of any losses to equipment, and additional or extraordinary costs if the incident expands.
Comments from the public will be reviewed by the committee before the chiefs present the final copy to the commission.
In other business, commissioners approved promotion of sheriff’s detective Aaron Christner to lieutenant detective and raised his pay from $22.72 an hour to $25 an hour.
They also changed the pay of ambulance director Chuck Kenney from $6,859 a month to $22.28 an hour, with 10% of that for service as interim director.
They also bent the rules for the lake hall Monday and agreed to allow alcohol to be served at Saturday’s Cowboy Christmas event.
Johsie Reid, of JR Hatters, which sponsors the event, asked whether permission could be granted for Whiskey Wagon to serve alcohol.
Planning director Sharon Omstead recommended that alcohol not be permitted to leave the building and that wristbands be used for drinkers.