SECTION .0200 - FOREST FIRE CONTROL

02 NCAC 60B .0201          BURNING PERMITS FOR FOREST FIRE PREVENTION: CANCELLATION

(a)  Burning permits may be cancelled when it is determined that hazardous forest fire conditions exist or when an air pollution episode exists. The cancellation may be for any part of the State. The boundaries of the area affected by the cancellation shall be county lines or other well-known geographic features such as major highways.

(b)  When the Commissioner determines that hazardous conditions exist, a partial ban on special permits may be declared on the counties where permits are required at all times. During the period of a partial ban on special permits in the counties identified in G.S. 106-942, an forest ranger may cancel or refuse to issue a special permit for individual land clearing burning that constitutes a specific fire hazard. The forest ranger may extinguish fires already burning that constitute a danger to adjoining woodlands.

(c)  When the Commissioner determines that hazardous forest fire conditions exist in any area under the protection of the Department, he or she may cancel all burning permits and prohibit the starting of fires capable of spreading to protected woodlands regardless of the distance to the woodland. This prohibition of burning applies for all hours of the day while the permit cancellation is in effect.

History Note:        Authority G.S. 106-22; 106-944; 106-946;

Eff. February 1, 1976;

Amended Eff. October 2, 1978;

Readopted Eff. November 6, 1980;

Amended Eff. August 1, 1982;

Transferred from 15A NCAC 09C .0203 Eff. May 1, 2012;

Readopted Eff. April 1, 2018.