Officials issue safety reminders for open burning

By Jazmine Knight

With many gathering yard waste to burn this month, following established guidelines is key to keeping people and property safe.

The open burning season is back again for the fall. Burning is allowed from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.

“It doesn’t mean that you just burn anything,” said Frank Till, executive director of the St. Joseph Safety Council.

Only dry yard waste such as leaves, brush and logs grown on the property can be burned. No trash, paper, lumber or building debris should be set on fire.

This gives residents an opportunity to get rid of their yard waste without having to spend money going to the landfill or having to spend the time shredding things.

The city of St. Joseph requires that fires are contained to an upright metal trash can or bucket-type container. Homeowners can also create their own barrel if they prefer.

“A thing made out of chicken wire or other kind of wire, but no larger than a 55 gallon drum,” Till said.

While many think open burning is just piling up leaves and setting them on fire, Till emphasizes the importance of using the trusted container for burning.

“If you were to do that, you might catch your yard on fire, which could spread to other structures or plants or something that you do not want to burn,” he said.

Try visiting your local farm and home store or tractor supply to find a container or supplies

Each container must be at least 15 feet away from any residence with only one per residence.

“If we’ve got kids or pets out running around while we’re doing open burning, we need to make sure that they stay away from the fire,” said Till.

All fires should be monitored and able to be extinguished by reliable water sources at any given time.

“A water hose or another source of fire prevention, a fire extinguisher or a bucket of water. But it has to be equivalent enough to put out the fire that you’ve started,” Til said.

For first time burners, Till suggests starting small inside your barrel and add to the fire as time goes on. The most important thing is to keep your fire exhaustion method closeby.

“And if you start to think it’s getting a little crazy, put it out,” he said. “You can always restart it.”

He says to never be afraid to call the fire department if you feel your fire is out of your control at any point of time.

Those interested in open burning should keep an eye on the weather and the City of St. Joseph website for no burning alerts.