ENOCH – The 15-day, fall open burn period for Enoch residents ends Sunday leaving residents only three days left to clear the natural debris from their yards.
Residents are reminded to focus on safe burn techniques and notify the Cedar City Fire Department each day before beginning a controlled burn, Cedar City Fireman Lowell Sorensen said.
Conditions change from day to day, he said, so calling before burning is incredibly important, because there may be a condition one day that prevents a controlled burn from being safe.
“So far it’s been really good this year and it’s been wet enough that it’s not been dangerous,” Sorensen said. “The material that they are burning should just be natural vegetation and yard clean up.”
It is important to provide the fire department with a name, address and phone number for the home where the controlled burn is planned to take place, Sorensen said, explaining that the information helps mitigate the enumerable reports that come in from concerned citizens during a controlled burn period. It also allows the fire department an opportunity to respond quickly if things were to go awry, he said.
Anyone performing a controlled burn on their property must have the means to control that fire, he said. Meaning – there should always be someone attending to the fire and tools to extinguish the flames quickly should be readily available. At no time during a controlled burn should the person performing the burn leave the area.
The size of the fire and the property often determine the appropriate tools that will be needed, Sorensen said, but for a typical home a good shovel that is a decent size and a water hose is sufficient. Some larger properties may even have a water truck on site, he said.
At least 10 to 25 feet of defensible space between the controlled burn area and any home, structure or combustible material is a standard that should be followed at all times, Sorensen said. The preference would lean towards 25 feet, he said, but on properties where that kind of space just isn’t available, 10 feet would be sufficient.
When finished with a controlled burn it is important to ensure that the fire is completely extinguished before leaving the burn site, Sorensen said. By fully extinguished, he said, he means “cool to the touch.”
All controlled burns must take place during daylight hours, he said, because the flames become more visible in the dark and concerned citizen reports tend to skyrocket.
All residents who live in the unincorporated areas of Iron County should call their local fire department before beginning a controlled burn as they are handled on a case by case basis, Cedar City Fire Chief Mike Phillips said.
There is no prescribed burn season within the Cedar City limits, Sorensen said, because the city provides a “spring cleanup” during which residents can gather all natural and unnatural materials and the city will pick them up from the road and haul them to the dump.
There is a no-burn ordinance within Cedar City limits, he said, and this applies to any and all fires that are not cooking fires.
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