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TITLE V: PUBLIC ORDER, SAFETY, AND HEALTH
CHAPTER 8 LEE COUNTY BURN
ORDINANCE
5-8-1 Purpose
5-8-2 Prohibited Open Burning
5-8-3 Notification
5-8-4 General Conditions for Open Burning
5-8-5
Penalties
5-8-6
Validity
5-8-7
Applicability
5-8-8
Effective Date
5-8-1. PURPOSE. The purpose of this Ordinance is
to provide Lee County fire departments notice of open burning to better use
fire equipment and volunteers’ time.
While this Ordinance requires persons to notify the Lee County Sheriff’s
Department prior to an open burn, this Ordinance is not intended to and does
not relieve the person who open burn of their obligations, liabilities and
responsibilities regarding their actions and the consequences of their own
open burn.
Open burning carries with it certain inherent risks
that are solely the responsibility of the person conducting the open
burn. This Ordinance and its
notification requirements are not intended to relieve that person from
his/her responsibilities, not place any liability on Lee County Sheriff’s
Department or the local fire departments.
It
is further the intent of the Ordinance that after Lee County Sheriff’s
Department receives notification of an open burn, it will relay that
information to the respective Lee County fire departments to report the date,
time and location of the open burn, along with the name of the person open
burning and their telephone/cell phone number. Lee County Sheriff’s Department is not in a position to approve
or disapprove of any open burning.
5-8-2.
PROHIBITED OPEN BURNING. This Ordinance prohibits all
persons from conducting or permitting open burning on public property without
prior authorization of the public entity responsible for its control and
care.
This
Ordinance adopts current and any future updated Iowa Administrative Code
rules regarding open burning, as contained in 567-23.2 “Open Burning.”
5-8-3 NOTIFICATION. No person shall burn “disaster rubbish”, trees and tree
trimmings”, “landscape waste”, and agricultural structures”, as defined in
the Iowa Administrative Code 567-23.2, without first notifying the Lee County
Sheriff’s Department of the name of the person responsible for the burn, that
persons telephone and/or cell phone number, the specific location of the open
burn, and the date and time of the open burn for these types of wastes.
No
person shall burn prairies, pastures, fields, yards or road ditches without
first notifying the Lee County Sheriff’s Department of the name of the person
responsible for the burn, that person’s telephone and/or cell phone number,
the specific location for the burn and the date and time of such open burn.
Notification,
pursuant to this Ordinance, is nt required for the burning of “paper or
plastic pesticide containers and seed bags”, as defined by Iowa
Administrative Code 567-23.2; not does this Ordinance require notification
for any other type of open burning unless specifically addressed in this
Section of the Ordinance. [Please note that federal and state notification
requirements still remain in effect, for example, State of Iowa notification
requirements exist for training fires.]
Nothing in this ordinance should be interpreted as to require
notification prior to burning household rubbish in a burn barrel.
5-8-4 GENERAL CONDITION FOR OPEN BURNING. The city or township fire department may
prohibit any or all open burning when the city or township fire department
determines atmospheric conditions or local circumstances make such fires
hazardous or a nuisance.
All
open burn fires must also be conducted in accordance with all Federal and
State of Iowa regulations regarding the use of fire.
Attendance
of Open Fires. Open fires shall be
attended by an adult person until such fire is extinguished; or in a manner
approved by the city or township fire department. Exception to this would be the burning of large brush piles,
which would be impractical to extinguish at the end of the day. Once a major portion of the pile is burned
and there is sufficient border around it with no combustible material the
fire may be left unattended. The
local fire officials may be consulted if you need advise on what would be
appropriate distances for border prior to burning.
This
Ordinance does not supercede Section 100.40 or 100.41, Code of Iowa, which
allows the State Fire Marshall to prohibit open burning during periods of
extremely dry conditions or other conditions when the State Fire Marshall
finds that open burning constitutes a danger to the life of property.
5-8-5 PENALTIES. The person violating this Ordinance shall be guilty of a simple
misdemeanor punishable by a fine of up to five hundred dollars ($500.00)
and/or thirty days (30) in jail per occurrence. Furthermore, that person is subject to pay restitution to any
responding fire department for any and all costs incurred by it for each
unlawful burn in violation of this Ordinance.
The
Board of Supervisors finds that restitution may be difficult to quantify for
such things as wear and tear on equipment and disruption of the normal
day-to-day activities of volunteers.,
Minimum restitution to responding agencies is therefore fixed in the
amount of one hundred dollars ($100.00) per occurrence.
5-8-6 VALIDITY.
If any section, subsection, sentence, clause, or phrase of this
Ordinance is held to be unconstitutional for any reason, such decision shall
not affect the validity of the remaining portions of this Ordinance. The political subdivision passing this
Ordinance hereby declares that it would have passed this Ordinance and such
section, subsection, sentence, clause, or phrase thereof, irrespective of the
fact that any one or more section, subsection, sentence, clause or phrase be
declared unconstitutional.
5-8-7 APPLICABILITY. This Ordinance shall apply to all unincorporated lands and
incorporated areas without any open burning ordinances that lie within the
boundaries of Lee County, Iowa.
5-8-8 EFFECTIVE DATE. This Ordinance shall be in effect upon publication as required
by law.
FIRST READING DATE: APRIL 15, 2008
SECOND READING DATE: APRIL 22, 2008
THIRD READING DATE: MAY 6, 2008
PUBLICATION: MAY 15, 2008
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