AGENDA DATE: 12/6/2017
TITLE:
Title
Open-air Burning and Air Quality Complaints
BODY
SUBJECT/PROPOSAL/REQUEST: Open-Air Burning
ITEM TYPE: Regular Information Item
STAFF CONTACT(S): Richardson, Walker, Eggleston, Oprandy, Lagomarsino
PRESENTER (S): Howard Lagomarsino
LEGAL REVIEW: Yes
REVIEWED BY: Jeffrey B. Richardson
BACKGROUND: The Board has addressed the issue of open air burning on a number of occasions previously. Specifically, the Board was briefed on open burning associated with land clearing on July 02, 2008 (Attachment D), barring open air burning of trash on January 09, 2013 (Attachment E) and increasing open air burning permit fees associated with land clearing on March 04, 2015 (Attachment F).
The purpose of regulating open-air burning is to provide for fire safety and healthy air quality. The County regulates open air burning in accordance with Federal Codes, Virginia Code, the Statewide Fire Prevention Code, the regulations promulgated by the Virginia Air Pollution Control Board (Attachment A) and Albemarle County Code Chapter 6, Article IV (Attachment B). The local code must conform to the provisions of federal and state codes, including the model open-air burning code adopted by the Virginia Air Pollution Control Board. Any change to local open-air burning code requires the approval of the Virginia Air Pollution Control Board prior to enactment. Local codes can be more stringent, but not less stringent.
Albemarle County Fire Rescue's approach to the control of open-air burning includes emergency response, education, engineering and enforcement.
Emergency response accounts for the vast majority of the interactions regarding open-air burning and is usually handled by responders without referral to Fire Marshal staff. Consequently, no data is readily available as to the specific findings from these incidents. Fire Marshal staff investigated two open-air burning inquiries (complaints) from the public in FY 16 and six in FY...
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