The Clinton Daily Democrat sat down with Fire Chief Mark Manuel and Deputy FD Chief Matt Willings, Friday, September 9, to talk about unauthorized burns in the City of Clinton. A follow-up discussion was arranged with the Fire Department after some discussion at the previous city council session where it was reported folks in town may not know about the burn policies of the town.
“We are not trying to keep people from roasting their hot-dogs and marshmallows,” said Chief Manuel, humorously. Deputy Chief Willings smiled, too. “Actually, I think most of the time the unauthorized burns come from people who recently move to town from a smaller community in the county, and just don’t realize the rules here are not the same.”
Are unauthorized burns a big problem in Clinton? No. At least, it appears most people do not just go burning things in their back yard without a permit. Those that do, as mentioned above, probably just did not know the regulations surrounding it. Usually, on the first offense, the offending party is warned and given a sheet with the protocol and rules governing burns in the city limits. Those really are not the problem. “Well, we do have two or three repeat offenders every year,” said Chief Manuel. “And, sometimes, we get a call about an unauthorized burn that is, uh, ‘neighbor rivalry.’” That is, some neighbors just don’t get along very well. Some do call on a good Samaritan basis where a permit has been issued but the calling party just did not know. But, it is not too common – there were 6 unauthorized burns in July and two in August. In August there were nine permits for burns issued.
The thing that the fire department would like folks to know is, mainly, call them if you don’t know. They will lead you in the right direction. Also, they will inspect any recreational burn site you might be constructing. There are some safety concerns that need to be addressed; the fire department is happy to help people avoid putting themselves or their families/neighbors in danger because of a poor or haphazardly construction burn site. There are two or three instances Fire Chief Manuel can recall where a recreational burn actually caught peoples’ houses on fire – the fire department would really like to avoid that happening. “Just call if you don’t know,” Chief Manuel reiterated.
The fire department is busy – and often shorthanded, so anything an individual can do to make sure they are following the rules is welcome. The fire department has went from 200 calls per year overall to over 1,500 per year – with about the same number of firefighters manning the station.
So – call if you don’t know. The Clinton Fire Department is there to help.
