Prince Edward County is updating their open air burning by-laws.
The changes to the by-law were discussed at Thursday’s Committee of the Whole meeting.
The new by-law makes several changes to how open-air burning is regulated in the county. The first change is that the fire chief is given full authority on when to declare either partial or full burn bans. While this is common practice in other municipalities, it wasn’t formally made part of the open-air burning law previously.
The new by-law also formally defines what is and is not permitted during partial or full burn bans. A partial burn ban is defined as when the fire chief imposes specific restrictions on setting or maintaining fires, while full bans define when all burning is banned. Campfires are permitted to continue under a partial ban, while cooking devices can still be used under both partial or full burn bans.
Under the new by-law, fireworks are also listed among the types of burning that can be restricted.
While the updated by-law was being discussed, Councillor Phil Prinzen proposed an amendment to allow burn barrels to be used during a partial ban. That amendment was passed, and the by-law was set to be updated with that change before going before county council.
The motion passed as amended, and was forwarded on to the next meeting of council for final approval.
