LENOIR, NC (November 9, 2016)…The Caldwell County Fire Marshal’s Office has issued an expansion of the burning ban issued by the North Carolina Fire Service yesterday.
Yesterday, due to the dry weather, high winds and low humidity, the NC Forest Service cancelled all burning permits and issued a burning ban in 25 counties in the western part of North Carolina including Caldwell County. The ban includes all outdoor burning, excluding cooking fires, beginning 100 feet from an occupied dwelling outward.
The Caldwell County Fire Marshal’s Office today expanded that ban to inside that 100 foot boundary surrounding an occupied dwelling. The Fire Marshal’s Office ban also excludes cooking fires in an outdoor grill or a smoker. There is a civil penalty of a $100 fine.
“The purpose of expanding the ban in closer to dwellings is to eliminate any outdoor burning not covered by NC Forest Service Ban,” says Jason Potter, Caldwell County Deputy Fire Marshal. “Our primary concern is not issuing citations, but educating citizens of the current dangers of the drought. We realize that leaves are falling and a lot of folks are wanting to clean up around their homes. Many of them want to burn the leaves and debris. We need everyone to understand, that we are in dire conditions right now. We have nearly a dozen fires burning right now across the western part of the state. Until conditions improve and we receive some steady rain, it is simply too much of a fire risk to do any outdoor burning, at all.”
State and local officials are especially concerned about taxing resources that fight fire right now with the drought and the fires currently burning. They are pleading with citizens to head the burning bans until weather conditions improve and the bans are lifted.