Livingston Fire Chief Makes Ordinance Changes, BOA Approves First Reading

Livingston approved the first reading of its open burn ordinance, in an attempt to add local oversight.

Fire Chief Rocky Dial said those burning larger piles of leaves would need to get permitted in advance. The exemption for needing a permit is any leaf pile that does not exceed a six foot diameter, three foot height.

“It will stop a lot of the false calls that we’re getting where people are burning and we don’t know anything about it,” Dial said. “In our area, we’ll know what it is prior to responding.”

Dial said people could get the permit three to four days prior to burning. However, Dial said there will still be site inspections prior to burning.

“These people that are burning the copper wire, we’ve got to stop that,” Dial said. “Because we’re getting numerous calls on that where it’s stinking up neighborhoods. It’s not people just burning small brush piles, they’re actually putting piles of copper wire in trashcans and setting it on fire.”

Dial said the necessary changes were made to get approval after no board action on the ordinance was taken in August. Dial said that small leaf piles and cooking fires will not require a permit

Dial said that permits will be free, but required 365 days a year. The ordinance will still need approval after a second reading and public hearing to be final.