Source: https://stjohn.town.codes/Code/20-3
Timestamp: 2020-07-06 08:51:57
Document Index: 434268998

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 4', '§ 4', '§ 7', '§ 4', '§ 2', '§ 1', '§ 20']

20-3 Open burning | St. John Town Code
Ch. 20, Solid Wastes
20-3, Open burning
Sec. 20-3. Open burning.
(a) Definitions. For the purposes of the section the following words and phrases shall have the following meanings ascribed to them respectively.
Fire or fires. The words shall be interchangeable, and shall mean and refer to the visible, active phases of the chemical reaction constituting the combustion of material, manifested in light and heat.
Material or materials. The words shall be interchangeable, and shall mean and refer to any kind of biodegradable and non-biodegradable substances, including, garbage, rubbish, ashes, commercial, industrial, and institutional waste, wood, and wood products.
Open burning or open burn. The terms shall be interchangeable, and shall mean and refer to the out door combustion of material.
Person or persons. The words shall be interchangeable, and shall mean refer to any natural person, corporation, association, trust, venture, partnership, or other entity.
Wood products. Material derived or consisting of paper, cardboard, rags, boards, branches, brush, grass, and leaves. No processed, painted, or treated wood material.
(b) Open burning prohibited, nuisance.
(1) No person or persons shall open burn any material except as provided at 326 Indiana Administrative Code § 4-1-3 or 326 Indiana Administrative Code § 4-1-4.
(2) Any person who shall violate any provision of this section shall be deemed a person maintaining a public nuisance.
(3) The Metropolitan Police Department shall and is hereby empowered to enforce the provisions of this section, as amended from time to time.
(c) Exemptions.
(1) The following instances of open burnings shall be exempt from restriction under this subchapter:
a. Fires celebrating school pep rallies;
b. Fires celebrating scouting activities;
c. Fires used for recreational and cooking purposes, such as camp fires;
d. Fires at residences of four (4) or fewer units, where fires are contained in a noncombustible container sufficiently vented to induce adequate primary combustion air, with enclosed sides, a bottom, and a mesh covering with openings no larger than one-fourth (¼) square inch, provided, however, that this exemption shall not include such fires at apartment complexes and mobile home parks, which fires are prohibited;
e. Fires of wood products associated with nursery and farming maintenance operations, including:
1. The burning of fence rows and fields, or materials derived therefrom,
2. The burning of natural growth derived from clearing a drainage ditch, and
3. The burning of limbs and prunings, but only if so diseased or infected as to present a contamination problem;
f. Waste oil burning, where the waste oil has been collected in a properly constructed and located pit as prescribed in 310 Indiana Administrative Code § 7-1-37(A), as amended from time to time, being a rule of division of oil and gas, state department of natural resources. Each oil pit may be burned once every two (2) months and all oil must be completely burned within thirty (30) minutes after ignition; and
g. Burning done pursuant to variance granted by the state air pollution control board pursuant to 326 Indiana Administrative Code § 4-1-4, as amended from time to time.
(2) All exemptions shall be subject to the following:
a. Only wood products shall be burned unless otherwise stated above.
b. Fires shall be attended at all times until completely extinguished.
c. If fires create an air pollution problem, a nuisance, or a fire hazard, they shall be extinguished. The person responsible shall also be subject to penalties per this chapter.
d. All residential, farm, and waste oil burning shall occur during daylight hours during which the fires may be replenished, but only in such a manner that nearly all of the burning material is consumed by sunset.
e. No burning shall be conducted during unfavorable meteorological conditions such as temperature inversions, high winds, or air stagnation.
(d) Penalty. Any person who violates the provisions of subsection (a), as amended from time to time, shall be liable for a fine of no less than fifty dollars ($50.00) and no more than two thousand five hundred dollars ($2500.00). Each day or part of day of such violation exist shall constitute a separate and to seek violation.
(Code 1983, 36-5-2-9(f), § 2(E); Ord. No. 0709, 8-10-87; Ord. No. 1431, § 1, 11-16-06)
Editor’s note: At the editor's discretion, Ord. No. 0709 has been treated as superseding § 20-3. Said ordinance did not specify its manner of disposition.
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The St. John Town Code is current through Ordinance 1706, passed May 27, 2020.