Changes coming to burn permits

Burn permit holders in Jackson County will be required to obtain a new permit before the end of the year, according to a resolution approved by the Jackson County Commissioners Monday. 

The new permits will now expire every two years, and the fines for burning without a permit, or during a time when burning is banned, have increased to no less than $500.

The new version of the county resolution was prompted in order to allow more flexibility with open burning when weather conditions change and to create harsher penalties for those who ignore burn bans. 

The commissioners signed off on the new resolution after some discussion with Jackson County Counselor Alex Morrissey, Emergency Management Coordinator Pat Korte and area fire chiefs Kevin Ingels (Holton), Ed Kester (Hoyt) and Todd Stauffer (Mayetta).

While the new resolution takes effect immediately after it’s published in today’s edition of The Holton Recorder (page 11), the commissioners agreed to give residents until Jan. 1 to re-register for a burn permit. These new permits will expire on Dec. 31 of every odd year. 

Burn permits are free and available at any Jackson County fire department; however, the Holton Fire Department is the only department open 24 hours a day, every day of the week.

Prior to burning, permit holders must call the Holton Public Safety Office at 364-3123 to get permission to conduct an open burn. 

In 2008, the commissioners at that time approved a burn permit resolution that was based on each resident’s telephone number. As long as the number didn’t change, the permit didn’t expire. Prior to 2008, burn permits expired every year.

Now that many people are using their cell phone as their primary phone, Morrissey said that people have sometimes moved and not changed the address on their burn permit. There are almost 3,000 burn permit holders in the county, it was reported. 

“By renewing the permit every two years, it will be easier to track where permit holders live and if their information is up to date,” Morrissey said. 

According to the new resolution, open burns must be ignited within one hour after the permit holder receives approval from the Holton Public Safety Office. 

“People were calling in the mornings and getting permission to burn when the wind was calm and then they wouldn’t ignite them until later on when conditions had changed,” Morrissey said. “Fire departments were getting overloaded with out of control fires that should have been conducted earlier.”

Holton Fire Chief Kevin Ingels said that the National Weather Service Rangeland Fire Danger Index issues fire conditions for Jackson County three times a day. Previously, the index was consulted just once a day. 

According to the NWS, the index is calculated by computing the moisture content of dead fuels, sky cover, temperature and wind speed. 

The county’s previous burn resolution stated that no burning was allowed when wind speeds exceeded 15 miles per hour. Those parameters have been outlined more specifically in the new resolution.

Now, burning is not allowed when the fire danger index indicates:

* “Low” fire danger with a sustained wind speed of 15 miles per hour or greater.

* “Moderate” fire danger with a sustained wind speed of 15 miles per hour or greater.

* “High” fire danger with a sustained wind speed of 15 miles per hour or greater.

* “Very High” fire danger and a sustained wind speed of 10 miles per hour or greater.

* Any time when there is “Extreme” fire danger for the county.

“The fire districts wanted a little more variability on when people could and could not burn so the wind speeds were changed,” Morrissey said. 

The fines for burning have also increased as part of the new resolution.

“We’re trying to counteract people who are willing to face a fine in order to burn when they are not allowed,” Morrissey said. 

 Violating the burn resolution is a class A non-person misdemeanor and the violator is subject to a jail term of up to one year and/or the following fines:

* No less than $500 for the first conviction.

* No less than $1,000 for the second conviction.

* No less than $1,500 for the third conviction.

The previous fines were between $100 and $500 for a first violation, $500 to $1,000 for a second and $1,000 and $2,500 for a third. 

All fines are paid to the resident’s fire district through the clerk of the district court. The new resolution also states that a conviction or diversion under the resolution may result in a resident being banned from any burning for up to five years. 

“A lot of people wanted to burn at certain times when they couldn’t, and a $100 fine was worth it to them,” Commissioner Janet Zwonitzer said. “We decided to increase the rates to give it more teeth.” 

The fire chiefs reported that only a “small handful” of fines are given out throughout the year. 

It was noted that after a fire is out, residents must call and report that information to the Holton Public Safety Office. In any fire emergency, residents need to call 911, not the Holton Fire Department. 

“We went through the previous resolution line by line to see what needed to be changed or updated,” Morrissey said. “We want this to work as well as it can for each fire district, as well as for each citizen.”