Orange County NC Website
20 <br />Under conditions deemed hazardous by DENR (for either fire danger or air quality reasons), all <br />burning is prohibited and ail permits are suspended. Under no circumstances does the State <br />sanction the burning of garbage, tires, building materials including lumber, plastic, asphalt <br />shingles, wire, oils, paints, household or agricultural chemicals, or synthetic materials. <br />Attachment A is the Division of Forest Resources Bum Permit. <br />Attachment B is the Division of Air Quality flyer, posted at, among other places, Orange County's <br />Solid Waste Convenience Centers. <br />Complaints & Enforcement <br />Complaints usually come to the Fire Marshall or to the Forest Service. The Fire Marshall <br />handles complaints when citizens are burning trash, construction materials, or other prohibited <br />items. When they receive complaints from citizens they determine if the bum is permitted. If <br />not, and it is required to be, they go to the site and ask the burner to extinguish the fire then <br />explain the burning regulations to them. If the problem continues after that, they notify the <br />Enforcement Division of Air Quality and a representative will accompany the Fire Marshall back <br />to the site. If the burning then continues,*the state takes legal action and fines are levied. <br />Other regulatory practices <br />Buncombe County, NC (Asheville) uses an alternative regulation; they prohibit burning on <br />certain days. Buncombe County maintains a daily recording, available at a published phone <br />number, informing callers whether it is a "burn day". On "burn days", Forest Service and Air. <br />Quality Division regulations and permit requirements are still in effect. <br />Attachment C is the Western NC Regional Air Quality Agency informational flyer <br />Jurisdictional Considerations <br />Orange County, according to the State, is a "non-high hazard county". This means that more <br />relaxed State regulations governing burning exist here. Eighteen counties are considered high <br />hazard, most of them in the coastal plain. (NC GS 113-60.23 and 60.24) <br />State law regulating "Open Fires" expressly does not preempt local government regulation open <br />burning. (NC GS 113-60.30) <br />Orange County is authorized to regulate solid wastes. (NC GS 153A-136) <br />Orange County, Chapel Hill, Carrboro, and Hillsborough have authority to condition <br />development permits to prohibit open burning as part of the development of the permitted <br />project2 <br />North Carolina General Statutes, Chapters 113, 143, and 153 are further sources of potentially <br />relevant jurisdictional considerations. <br />2 Local legislation authorizing Orange County to do this is not applicable in Cart and Cheeks Precincts and is not applicable to <br />bona fide farm operations for which a zoning permit would not be required. (Session Laws 2000-107, s.2)