Burn safely and obtain a permit

15 years ago

Burn safely and obtain a permit

IN THE CITY

by “Fireman Fred” Parsons

    Well, it won’t be long until this fairly mild winter is behind us and we will all think about cleaning up around our properties to prepare for the summer months. It is a rite of spring for folks to want to hurry the “greening” process up by burning their grass, leaves, wood, and whatever else they can burn. We want to caution everyone to burn safely and to obtain a burn permit. 

    Here in Presque Isle, we can issue you a fire permit for a $10 annual fee, but you must call each time before you burn or the permit is not active. This enables us to know where a burn is located in the event a Good Samaritan calls in what they think is a true fire (where actually it may be a controlled, permitted burn) and preventing us from rolling the trucks to these locations unnecessarily. Rolling trucks to a location for nothing can be costly as well as make us unprepared for a call for someone who truly needs our services.
    Calling in for permission to burn also gives us the authority to disallow burning in the event that the fire danger is high. Remember, you can only burn wood, brush, old boards, etc. Leaves are recycled within the city limits and thus cannot be burned. Leaves also cause a lot of nuisance smoke for neighbors with the high amount of smoke they produce. You will need to have enough adult help, hand tools, availability of water, etc., when burning with a permit, as you may be responsible for fire suppression costs should a fire get out of control.
    There is still some heating of our homes to be done, so to ensure that there are no problems, this is a good time to clean your chimneys, tune up furnaces, clean and inspect pellet stoves and also your wood stoves. When it is fairly warm out, creosote can form quickly in the pipes and chimneys; that combined with not burning too hot can result in a chimney fire, which can quickly progress to a structure fire if unnoticed in a timely fashion.
    For emergencies you may have, just call 9-1-1 and whether you need fire, police, or ambulance, your help will be quickly on the way. And while driving, you will encounter emergency vehicles, remember it is the law that all traffic needs to pull to the right and stop until the emergency vehicle passes. But be sure that another emergency vehicle is not coming along as well before you pull back out onto the roadway.
    We want to remind you as well to put a number on your house that is visible from the roadway. Where the structure is within 50 feet of the road, the assigned number shall be displayed on the front of the structure in the vicinity of the front door or entry. If the door doesn’t face the road, the numbers should be placed towards the road. If you’re over 50 feet from the road, put your number on a post, fence, wall or mailbox adjacent to the drive. Numbers need to be a minimum of 4 inches high, made of reflective material and be of a contrasting color to its background.
    This is a good time to remind everyone that we will be holding the Maine State Fire Convention in September which will bring lots of people to the Star City. Chairman Grant Spinney has been working hard lining up vendors, fire departments to participate, and activities during the weekend of Sept. 10-12th. More details will soon be available on our Web site @ www.pifire.org.
    For questions about fire safety and/or to obtain a fire permit, visit us at 43 North Street, Suite A and we will do our best to accommodate your request. Other questions, feel free to call us at 769-0881.
    We also want to welcome new City Manager Jim Bennett to the City and look forward to working with him, as we all try to serve the city and its citizens to the best of our abilities.
    “Fireman Fred” Parsons is a member of the Presque Isle Fire Department.