MY local fire department has STUPID policies.....

[txdon]

If she's smart she will keep on moving down the road.

Ouch! New meaning to un-permited burn.

 

[GPintheMitten]

It's totally unreasonable to expect the chief or his rep to inspect the same day you apply. A couple of days turn around would be reasonable.

Then to get all pissy about it just proves how unreasonable JD is being.

No wonder he is not getting support here.

 

[murphy1244]

"I did the same thing when I started year a few years back, got all PiXXed off at one of our dependable advertisers, who sent me a subsoiler that had been dragged down the road it look like. I was incensed."

I remember that thread, Oh boy things got funny then real hot...Alls well that ends well.

 

[Parkanzky]

This thread really has me thinking.

We purchased our new home in the fall. We are on 4.4 acres and it's heavily wooded. The previous owners never did anything to maintain the wooded part of the property and there is a lot of pine that is all dying at the same time, so it's a huge mess. I've been spending every free day I can out in the woods cleaning up dead/down trees and dragging out tons of partially rotten logs. That's meant a lot of fires. If I get home from work early enough, I'll start a small fire while I cut/split. Then on weekends, I start a fire first-thing in the morning and spend the entire day out there cleaning up and feeding the fire.

I grew up on a 1 acre lot in the country. My family and all our neighbors had burn pits and we would burn pretty frequently. Most people also had burn barrels for their trash. Because of that, I never gave it a second thought and I've never pulled a permit or talked to anybody about burning at the new house. Now, I'm reading our townships rules and it seems that I should have a permit and that they're only issued on specific days (The 2nd and 4th Saturdays of the month between December 1st through August 31st). You can't burn anything larger than 6" diameter, the fires can't last more than 5 hours, and must be out (no smoke) by 6:00 PM. They specifically say no burning on Sundays.

I had a couple of friends over a few weeks ago and we spent the day cutting wood. We had a fairly large fire going, and the sheriff drove down the neighbors drive (it runs parallel to ours on an easement at the edge of our property) and sat and watched us tossing logs (whole ~10-14" diameter rounds) onto the fire for about ten minutes. At about the time I was going to walk over there and strike up a conversation, he left. Now that I'm reading the rules, I am assuming he was trying to decide whether to ding me for the "open fire" without a permit. Worse, I worry that a neighbor called him or the fire department. I don't want to have a bad relationship with local law enforcement, the fire department, neighbors, or anybody else.

The local ordinances do allow "recreation fires." They must be in an "approved" ring, outdoor fireplace, or burn pit. There is a size restriction (I've been exceeding it), and a big list of things I can't burn (there's probably a fine line between brush and kindling...). I have made crude stools out of some pine logs that I use around the fire pit. I think that I'll dig the current fire pit up in the spring (It's probably a 6-8' diameter circle of rocks) and re-position the rocks into a 3' circle (the max size for a recreational fire). I will split everything over 6" diameter, so I'm never throwing whole logs on. The fires really are recreational for me. I'll work out there all day, then when the sun falls I sit on one of those stools for an hour or so and watch the fire/pet the dog/decompress. Still, I'm concerned about antagonizing my neighbors. I have years worth of frequent burning to do just to clean up the mess I already have.

 

[GPintheMitten]

Might be a good time to visit the neighbor.

 

[Gem99ultra]

From my experience, I think you're worrying too much. There's no problem that I see with your pile. I'd burn it if there was no response to my phone call. It'll be burnt up in no time. And with the snow - there's almost no chance of spreading a fire.

Here in Georgia burn permits can be obtained either by phone or over the internet, from May 1st until September 30th. There are some days in there that the air quality prohibits burning, but not many. And the permit application won't be issued on those days.

The hot dog cooking routine is a fail-safe measure Still, you're responsible for any damage your fire causes, so watch it carefully.

 

[Parkanzky]

Might be a good time to visit the neighbor.

Neighbors. But you're right, I should go door-to-door one of these days and introduce myself. I've met a couple of them at the end of the drive grabbing the mail, but the neighbors on the other side and I will never cross-paths unless I take a walk. I always hesitate to do it, because I don't want people showing up at my door unannounced so I hate to do that to them.

 

[newbury]

<snip>
Those of you who live on big properties think this is all nonsense.<snip>

It's not the size of the property that concerns me, it's the lay of the land. As you experienced, Drew, a fire can decide to do things that you didn't plan on. If the burn can jump to the woods it will. And then you become an entry in a newspaper article about who started the local forest fire.

From the pics it looked like JD was safe with his fire especially since he had low wind and snow cover. But it was also evident by the pics that he was going to burn stuff the permitting process doesn't allow.

I've got 70+ acres around my house, but it's all wooded and a fire started at the wrong time could easily turn into a forest fire and a house warming. And I've about another 300 acres that if a fire burned thru it would be costing me two or three thousand an acre in lost timber.

 

[GPintheMitten]

Neighbors. But you're right, I should go door-to-door one of these days and introduce myself. I've met a couple of them at the end of the drive grabbing the mail, but the neighbors on the other side and I will never cross-paths unless I take a walk. I always hesitate to do it, because I don't want people showing up at my door unannounced so I hate to do that to them.

Agree. When I first moved here, it was hand waving to each other for a while. Then a short visit when they were outside doing something.

Really the only folks I really know are owners on each side and the 2 across the road. But i have a very strong waiver relationship with a couple more.

 

[oosik]

I had to evacuate my property in June, 2013 because of the 13,000 acre wildfire (Watermellon Hill Wildfire). Only by the graces of God and an unusual wind direction, it missed my property by about 100 yds.

They are still looking for the folks that "accidentally" started this fire. A lot of people lost a lot because of this fire and it cost the taxpayers big money.

I don't think it would hurt JD one little bit to be a little more patient & understanding. I HAVE NO SYMPATHY FOR HIS LITTLE CONCERNS WHAT-SO-EVER.