Residential Fires
On April 11, 2011, Graham Fire & Rescue updated Resolution #772 to define a Residential Outdoor Burn as the following:Residential Fires: shall be lawful within Designated Burning Areas, provided the District has first issued and documented a written permit for this type of burning and the following terms and conditions for burning are continuously met:
- Residential yard waste burning means outdoor burning by a property owner or person authorized by a property owner of leaves, clippings, branches under three inches in diameter, and other natural vegetation materials from the property.
- Residential burn piles may not be closer than 30 feet to any structure including fences, decks, and tree stands, outbuildings, standing vegetation (fuel package) or other combustible material that may promote fire spread.
- Residential burn piles may not be larger than four feet in diameter and no higher than three feet.
- Only natural vegetation originating on the property may be burned. Natural vegetation means unprocessed plant material from herbs, shrubbery, and trees, including grass, weeds, leaves, clippings, pruning’s, brush, branches, roots, split stumps, and trunk wood. All other materials are prohibited in residential burn piles.
- Only paper and/or paper products may be burned in very limited quantities for the sole purpose of igniting a residential burn pile.
- Residential burning may neither be ignited nor added to between the hours of 9:00 p.m. and 8:00 a.m. daily.
- A competent person capable of extinguishing the fire must attend it at all times, and the fire must be extinguished before leaving it.
- Fire extinguishing equipment such as a charged garden hose, 5-gallon container of water, or fire extinguisher rated not less than 4-A shall be immediately available and in close proximity to the fire. Hand tools such as shovels should be available where possible.
- No residential burning is permitted during burn ban periods.
- Residential burning shall be immediately discontinued when fire borne emissions are offensive to occupants of surrounding property or otherwise creating a nuisance, or if burning is unreasonably interfering with the enjoyment of life and/or property, or if the fire is determined to constitute a hazard to the health, safety, or welfare of other persons or property.
- Residential burning must display efficient combustion and may only occur when atmospheric conditions permit smoke and all other products of combustion to rise in a substantially vertical direction.
- Residential burning shall not be ignited / continued during periods of rainfall where moisture causes incomplete combustion.
- Residential burn permits may be issued for open and extended periods of time between the months of November and May. During the peak fire season, generally June through September, residential burn permits may be issued for designated periods of time, not to exceed 14 consecutive days. Where poor atmospheric conditions prevent the permitee from executing the permit within the allotted time, he/she may be granted a one-time extension of up to an additional 14 days. In all other instances a new permit will need to be issued and payment(s) rendered.
- Residential burning on private property may only be conducted by the property owner, or by persons who reside on property and have written authorization from the property owner to ignite a residential burn.
- Only one fire pile shall be burned at a time and extinguished before another is ignited.