From the Putnam Co OH Sheriffs Office Facebook page (4/10/14 3:01am): With the weather getting nicer, people are out burning piles of brush and other land waste. Some of this is legal, however there are specific EPA regulations regarding open burning. The following link is a table of what is allowed, what isn’t, and what may need a permit first: http://www.epa.ohio.gov/portals/27/general/openburningtable.pdf
Even if you are burning legally, you still need to take into account the weather, especially the wind, and your surroundings. Last week several fire departments were dispatched to field fires in the county because the weather caused controlled fires to become too large and out of control. Even embers from burn barrels can get caught in the wind and ignite fodder in a field causing a large fire.
If you are going to conduct a controlled burn (beside normal trash barrels), please call the Sheriff’s Office to let dispatch know. You will be asked the location and your phone number in case there is a concern if a passer-by calls it in. You will also be asked to let us know when the fire is no longer supervised. This will prevent unnecessary dispatches of fire departments to fires that are already being supervised. People passing by may see a large fire and call it in thinking it is an emergency. If we already know someone is there watching it, we know not to send the fire department. If we aren’t sure what’s on fire and think it could be a structure, up to four departments could be paged automatically. Depending on the area, you could be billed for the run.
We thank everyone for their cooperation and hope that you think safety this spring!
