HomeMy WebLinkAboutOrdinance 1003 - Fire and Burning Restrictions
CHAPTER X – NUISANCES & OFFENSES
ORDINANCE 1003 FIRE AND BURNING RESTRICTIONS .........................................1003-1
Section 1003.01: PURPOSE ......................................................................................1003-1
Section 1003.02: DEFINITIONS ...............................................................................1003-1
Section 1003.03: PROHIBITION OF FIRES .............................................................1003-2
Section 1003.04: MATERIALS .................................................................................1003-2
Section 1003.05: PROHIBITION OF ALL BURNING .............................................1003-2
Section 1003.06: GENERAL REGULATIONS REGARDING PERMITTED FIRES1003-2
Section 1003.07: PENALTIES ..................................................................................1003-3
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CHAPTER X – NUISANCES & OFFENSES
ORDINANCE 1003 FIRE AND BURNING RESTRICTIONS
Section 1003.01: PURPOSE. The City Council has made a determination that
unregulated burning within the City has an adverse effect upon the health, comfort, repose and
property of the residents of the City, specifically finding:
a) Increases the risk of destruction of personal property and structures.
b) Increases the pollution of the air and affects the health of residents, primarily
those suffering from asthma and other respiratory ailments.
c) Causes annoyance by smoke drifting onto adjacent properties.
d) Increases the potential for injury by creating a nuisance attractive to children.
e) Causes soot and odor to adjacent property.
Therefore, the City Council has enacted this Ordinance restricting the ignition and
maintenance of fires, and other burning as may occur within the City of St. Joseph.
Section 1003.02: DEFINITIONS. As used herein, the following terms shall be defined
in the following manner:
Subd 1: Person. Means any natural person acting either personally or in any
representative capacity, corporation, firm, co-partnership, or an association of any nature or kind.
Subd. 2: Timber. Means and includes trees, saplings, bushes, seedlings, and sprouts
from which trees may grow, of every size, nature, kind and description.
Subd. 3: Forest Products. Means and includes all products derived from timber.
Subd. 4: Owner. Includes a person owning the fee title to any real property, or the
person occupying real property pursuant to a leasehold interest therein.
Subd. 5: Open Fire or Open Burning. Means a fire which is not contained within a fully
enclosed fire box or structure from which the products of combustion are emitted directly to the
open atmosphere without passing through a stack, duct or chimney.
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CHAPTER X – NUISANCES & OFFENSES
Subd. 6: Recreational Fire/Campfire. Means a fire set for cooking, warming, ceremonial
or esthetic purposes, which is not more than three feet in diameter by three feet high, which has
the ground five feet from the base of the fire cleared of all combustionable material, and which is
contained within a metal ring, rock, concrete or other similar non-combustionable material
surrounding the base of the fire.
Section 1003.03: PROHIBITION OF FIRES. All fires within the City of St. Joseph are
prohibited, except for the following:
Subd. 1: Recreational Fires/Campfires
Subd. 2: Fire contained in a charcoal grill, camp stove or other device designed for the
purpose of cooking or heating.
Subd. 3: A fire contained within a building or structure ignited for the purpose of
providing heat to the interior of the structure or to be used in the preparation of food.
Subd. 4: Fires ignited for purposes of fire training as therein defined by Minn. Stat.
§88.17 subd. 3(a), pursuant to special permit granted by the local fire warden or other authorized
state, county or local authority.
Section 1003.04: MATERIALS. Fuel for all fires permitted shall consist of timber,
forest products, and kerosine, fuel oil or natural gas if the fire is contained in a stove or fire box
designed for the ignition of that substance. Burning of the following materials shall be strictly
prohibited:
Subd. 1: Motor oil, rubber, plastics, chemically treated materials or other materials
which produce excessive or noxious smoke including, but not limited to, tires, railroad ties,
chemically treated lumber, composite shingles, tarp paper, installation, composition board,
sheetrock, wiring, paint or paint filters.
Subd. 2: Hazardous waste as defined in Section 116.06 Subd. 11 of the Minnesota
Statutes and applicable Commissioner's Rules.
Subd. 3: Solid waste generated from an industrial or manufacturing process or from a
service or commercial structure.
Section 1003.05: PROHIBITION OF ALL BURNING. No outside burning may occur
during any time when a burning ban is declared by any state, county, or local authority due to an
air pollution alert or a fire danger.
Section 1003.06: GENERAL REGULATIONS REGARDING PERMITTED FIRES.
Subd. 1: No person shall ignite or maintain a fire upon the land of another without the
permission of the owner thereof or his agent.
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CHAPTER X – NUISANCES & OFFENSES
Subd. 2: No person shall ignite or maintain a fire on publicly owned or controlled
property except in areas designated for the maintenance of campfires by the public authority
governing the property.
Subd. 3: Any authorized open fire shall be attended by a competent person until such fire
is extinguished.
Section 1003.07: PENALTIES. Violations of any of the provisions of this Ordinance
shall be deemed a petty misdemeanor, except the violation of Section 1003.04 Subd. 1, 2 or 3
shall be deemed a misdemeanor. Any person who ignites or maintains a prohibited fire may be
liable under this ordinance. Any person who owns or controls property and knowingly permits a
prohibited fire to be ignited or maintained on his or her property shall also be liable as if that
person had actually ignited the fire.
Updated 2/12/96
Updated 6/2003 – Section 1003.02, Subd. 6
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