Foothills residents will have to go to more lengths to have large burns approved in the future.
MD council is reviewing its policies for burning permits for large-scale projects. The review is underway after an incident in January where a temperature inversion prevented smoke from a burn near Priddis from rising, leaving neighbours in the area to deal with smoky conditions for weeks. Since that time, no burn permits have been issued for large burns.
Recommended changes to the burn permit process were brought to council on March 7. The proposal would create two classes of permits, with Class 2 burn permits to be issued for large-scale burns. Any burn piles or pits larger than 10 feet by 10 feet by two feet, and any more than one burn, will require a Class 2 permit.
“It’s based on the size or the number of simultaneous burns the landowner may have going on at the same time,” said deputy CAO and community services director Ryan Payne.
The new Class 2 permit process will require a discussion with a full-time firefighter or MD staff members to review the application and potentially inspect the burn site, he said. To ensure landowners are not inconvenienced, council requested a 48-hour service standard, meaning applicants will be contacted within two days.
Having a separate burn permit for large-scale events will ensure safety of the site and put the fire department on alert while burns are happening, should a fire ever get away from the landowner, said Payne.
Class 2 permits will also include weather as a consideration to avoid issues like what occurred in the Priddis area earlier this year, he said.
To help the fire department determine weather factors at the time of burning, the MD is working with Foothills Regional Emergency Services Commission (FRESC) to initiate an information-sharing system. Currently, landowners must contact FRESC when they begin a burn, providing their names and permit numbers.
“We’re working with FRESC right now to see if there’s some notification system we can receive when someone calls in so we’re able to monitor weather, temperature, that kind of thing,” said Payne. “So we could receive an email with the permit number and take a look and be able to communicate through that process with the landowner if the weather or other elements aren’t really well-suited for a large burn at that time.”
All fire permit applications will be done through an online system, though there will be a direct telephone number for those who do not have Internet access, he said.
Reeve Larry Spilak said he thinks the proposed changes to burn permits are a positive step, but he’d like to see them reviewed by the MD fire board before council gives final approval.
“Our fire board is put in place to monitor and suggest changes for our fire departments, and of course I believe they have a great deal to say about how we progress with this,” said Spilak. “It’s quite an extensive change.”
He said adding a Class 2 permit should help prevent incidents that adversely affect neighbours or put people in danger.
“Prior to this it only took a phone call to a fire guardian to get a permit, and as a rule it worked out very well,” said Spilak. “But, on larger burns such as this, we had to make it just a little more extensive.”
Coun. R.D. McHugh agreed the rural fire board needs to be consulted as experts on the matter, but he said time is of the essence as this is the time of year when many rural residents gear up to burn pits on their land.
“The hink is we don’t have a system in place, so we’re trying to get this all to happen and still get everyone’s opinion,” said McHugh.
He said the Class 2 burn permits should be implemented as soon as possible, but some considerations need to be made, like council’s request for a 48-hour response time. Getting the go-ahead to burn shouldn’t take too long if everything is in line with standards for size and type of burn pits, he said.
“As long as the fire chief is going to get back, or whoever the responder to the Class 2 permit is calls back right away and says to go ahead, then it’s not an issue,” said McHugh.
