Rules for controlled burns

Not every fire is bad news. With the weather getting warmer, farmers may be doing controlled burns.

There are many reasons why farmers do controlled burns.

“Sometimes it’s to reduce the subtle so they don’t have to do so many trips over with tillage equipment. At times they may be trying to get rid of a weed species by burning the seed that would be in the field. They can also use it for control of some of the funguses and pests,” says Dwight Little, grain producers.

There are some steps farmers have to go through.

“Training process that’s quite short and is fairly reasonable to do and then if you’re approved you have to pay a two dollar fee per acre that will allow you to burn fields on approved days,” says Little.

But before burning you have to make a few calls.

“Call into the district, call into dispatch because when there’s high wind advisories we cancel burning and also to check that clearing with the department of environmental quality so the DEQ can make sure there’s no upper-level atmosphere things,” says Bill Pope, Fire Chief for Central Fire District.

There are ways to tell if a fire is controlled or not.

“If it’s a controlled burn somebody should be with that fire at all times. It should be attended the whole time that it’s burning. So if anybody sees a fire that’s not attended and they see it burning, whether it’s controlled or not that’s an opportunity for them to call 9-1-1,” says Pope.

And safety first.

“You need to have a good border around the field that you’re going to burn. Have a piece of equipment close that you can put a fire out whether it be a disk or a plow. Use common sense, be careful what you do, don’t start a fire bigger than you can put out,” says Little.