(a) General Prohibitions. No person shall cause, suffer, allow or permit open burning of refuse, trade waste, salvage waste, agricultural waste or other combustible material, except as may be allowed in compliance with subsection (b) hereof.
(b) Exceptions. Open burning shall be permitted as follows:
(1) Outdoor burning in connection with the preparation of food.
(2) Campfires and fires used solely for recreational purposes or ceremonial occasions.
(3) Fires set for purposes of training public or private fire-fighting personnel, with the approval of Council.
(4) Landscape waste, which includes all accumulations of grass or shrubbery cuttings, leaves, tree limbs and other materials accumulated as the result of the care of lawns, shrubbery, vines and trees, upon the premises where it is produced or at sights provided and supervised by the City.
Any open burning permitted under the provisions of this paragraph shall begin only after sunrise, and the fire shall be extinguished before sunset.
(c) Burning of Garbage and Trash Prohibited. No person, firm or corporation shall burn any garbage, which is defined as waste resulting from the handling, processing, preparation, cooking and consumption of food and waste from the handling, processing, storage and sale of produce. No person shall burn any paper, boxes and other forms of trash.
(d) Emergency burn bans on temporary basis. Notwithstanding any other provision of this section to the contrary, at any time when meteorological, climatological, hydrological or agricultural drought conditions exist because of a period of well below average precipitation, inadequate soil moisture, or otherwise, so as to present a substantial risk that any fire or burning within the City may be inadvertently spread or cause another fire, the Mayor may declare a “state of emergency” or “burn ban” to exist, by signing a statement finding that such standards for the emergency have been met, setting forth facts to substantiate such findings, describing the nature of the emergency, and declaring that a “state of emergency” or “burn ban” exists. Such statement shall be filed with the City Clerk as soon as practicable. Upon the filing of the statement by the Mayor, it shall be unlawful for any person to build a fire or to set fire to or cause or permit to be burned in any way any substance or material whatsoever, including but not limited to dry leaves or dry landscape material, in any yard, lot, street or alley, or outside any permanent structure. The Mayor shall cause notice of the “state of emergency” and/or “burn ban” and the time the statement was filed with the City Clerk to be given by available means reasonably known to him or her. The Mayor may declare a “state of emergency” ended by giving written notice to that effect to the City Clerk.
(Ord. 623. Passed 10-12-92; Ord. 1,018. Passed 11-14-22.)