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Any person failing or neglecting to comply with any order issued pursuant to any section hereof, and having failed to appear as requested and/or not having appealed said order within the time specified in the order, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction in the district court, shall, unless other punishment is specifically provided in this chapter, be punished by a fine of not less than twenty-five dollars ($25.00) nor more than one thousand dollars ($1,000.00) or imprisoned for not less than ten (10) days nor more than sixty (60) days for each offense, or both so fined and imprisoned. Each day that any such violation is permitted to exist beyond the time fixed by order, as provided in this chapter, shall constitute a separate offense.
(Ord. No. 2059, §§ 17, 18, 12-26-46; Ord. No. 155-87, § 1, 7-9-87; Ord. No. 24-91, § 1, 2-21-91)
Whenever the chief of the division of fire and emergency services of the urban county government or any officer or member of his department is denied entrance to any property, land, structure or building, for the purpose of inspecting, ascertaining and causing to be corrected any conditions likely to cause fire loss, or determining the cause or origin of any fire loss, or discovering any violation of the law or ordinance relating to fire prevention and protection, said chief, officer or designated member may apply to the district court for a warrant allowing entrance and inspection. This authority shall apply to the interior of occupied, private dwellings only when a fire loss has occurred therein or when the officer has reason to believe that unsafe conditions exist in the building.
(Ord. No. 277-78, § 2, 11-16-78; Ord. No. 155-87, § 1, 7-9-87)
(a) As used in this chapter:
(1) Open burning means any fire wherein the production of combustion is emitted directly into the outdoor atmosphere and is not directed thereto through a stack or chimney, incinerator or similar device.
(2) Building rubbish means the waste material resulting from construction, remodeling, repair or demolition operations on houses, commercial buildings and other structures.
(3) Household rubbish means waste materials and trash, including garbage, normally accumulated by a family in a residence in the course of normal day-to-day living.
(b) No person shall cause or allow any building rubbish or household rubbish to be burned for the purpose of disposing of same, or for any other purpose. All building rubbish and household rubbish shall be disposed of in accordance with the provisions of chapter 16 of this Code.
(c) Except as provided in this section or in other provisions of this Code, open burning is prohibited. The fire chief or his designee may allow open burning for the following purposes:
(1) Fires set for the cooking of food for human consumption;
(2) Fires set for recreational or ceremonial purposes;
(3) Small fires set by construction and other workers for comfort heating purposes when daytime temperatures are below forty degrees Fahrenheit (40°F) if excessive or unusual smoke is not created, the fire is contained in a metal vessel not to exceed the size of a fifty-five (55) gallon drum, and the fire is not left unattended for more than fifteen (15) minutes while workers are present at the job site. Fires must be extinguished whenever workers leave the job site;
(4) Fires set for the purpose of weed abatement, disease, and pest prevention;
(5) Fires set for prevention of a fire hazard, including the disposal of dangerous materials if no safe alternative is available;
(6) Fires set for the purpose of bona fide instruction and training of public and industrial employees in the methods of fighting fires;
(7) Fires set for recognized agricultural, silvicultural, range, and wildlife management practices;
(8) Fires set for the purpose of disposing of accidental spills or leaks of crude oil, petroleum products or other organic materials, and the disposal of absorbent material used in their removal, if no other economically feasible means of disposal is available and practical and if a permit has been issued by the Kentucky Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Cabinet; and
(9) Fires set for disposal of natural growth for land clearing, and trees and limbs felled by storms, if no extraneous materials such as tires or heavy oil which tend to produce dense smoke are used to cause ignition or aid combustion and the burning is done on days when conditions do not pose a threat of igniting a forest fire.
(d) No person shall cause or allow any open burning for the purposes authorized in subsection (c) without obtaining an open burn permit from the fire chief or his designee; provided, however, that no permit shall be required for fires set to cook food for human consumption or for small fires set by construction and other workers pursuant to subsections (c)(1) and (3). The fire chief shall establish reasonable rules to regulate the issuance of open burn permits, including conditions that may be placed upon the use of the permit.
(e) No open burn permit shall be granted for any fire that would be in violation of Chapters 149, 150, or 227 of the Kentucky Revised Statutes, Title 401, Chapters 51 or 63 of the Kentucky Administrative Regulations, or other state or local law.
(f) Any person in violation of the provisions of this section shall, upon conviction thereof, be subject to a fine of not less than one hundred dollars ($100.00) nor more than five hundred dollars ($500.00) or imprisonment for a term not to exceed twelve (12) months, or both, for each act which shall be a separate offense.
(Ord. No. 154-87, § 1, 7-9-87; Ord. No. 304-2004, § 1, 12-2-04; Ord. No. 130-2005, § 1, 6-9-05)
Ord. No. 20-2015, § 1, adopted Mar. 17, 2015 , repealed § 9-21, which pertained to fire prevention board of appeals and derived from Ord. No. 24-91, § 1, adopted Feb. 21, 1991; and Ord. No. 59-91, § 2, adopted Apr. 4, 1991.
(a) Appeal of Fire Marshal's Order.
(1) Application. This subsection shall not apply in instances in which the order is issued by the fire chief. In addition, this subsection shall not apply in instances in which an emergency order is issued pursuant to state law that directs the property to be closed to the public or vacated by its occupants until the violation is corrected.
(2) Authorized. Where any person seeks relief from an order of the fire marshal or other officer or member of the department acting in an official capacity enforcing provisions of this code, including but not limited to matters of code interpretations, that person may request reconsideration of the fire marshal's decision by appealing in writing to the fire chief within ten (10) business days of the receipt of the order stating the reasons why relief is sought and what decision the person feels should be forthcoming. The fire chief or his designee shall act as a hearing officer and hear such appeals filed. In no instance shall the designee be the fire marshal issuing the order. A hearing on such an appeal shall be held within thirty (30) days after it is received by the fire chief.
(3) Notice of hearings. The fire chief or his designee shall give written notice of hearings not less than ten (10) days in advance. The notice shall state the date, time and place of the hearing and specify the matters to be considered at the hearing. The fire chief shall give such notice to all persons whose pecuniary interests, to the fire chief's knowledge or belief, are to be directly and immediately affected by the hearing. Notice of hearing may be given by delivery to the person to be notified or his agent or by mailing it, postage prepaid, addressed to him at his principal place of business or residence as last of record in the fire chief's office.
(4) Conduct of hearing. Any party to the hearing shall have the right to appear in person and to present evidence in support of his interest. The fire chief shall consider all relevant evidence presented at the hearing and shall render a written decision within five (5) business days after the hearing is completed.
(b) Appeal of Fire Chief's Order. Any appeal of the fire chief's order shall be as provided under the applicable state law.
(c) [Orders final.] All orders of the fire department which have not been timely appealed shall become final.
(Ord. No. 24-91, § 1, 2-21-91; Ord. No. 20-2015, § 2, 3-17-15 )