Since moving out to the country a few months ago, I’ve had so many issues with neighbors burning illegally.
First let me say that I personally don’t think anyone in his right mind would burn rubbish and release the pollutants into the atmosphere, even if it were legal. I think it’s rude and inconsiderate and downright dangerous to burn for the sake of burning.
However, I’m well aware that no matter how strongly I feel about an issue it doesn’t give me a right to stop others from doing as they please. That’s why I took pains, when I first encountered this problem, to learn what the law is.
I contacted the appropriate representative from the Ohio EPA and he was very helpful and informative. He sent me literature and made sure I understood the law as it applies to my property and those around me.
Subsequently I reported one of our neighbors several times, and each time the rep from the EPA went to the house and found the man was burning illegally. He issued citatations, and I believe the last time there was a fine involved. But I noticed he and other neighbors were burning mostly on weekends, when Mr. EPA was obviously not at work. He told me to contact my local fire department on their non-emergency number.
I was loathe to do that, because I don’t really want to bother the fire department. So I found another resource, a man at my county health department who is also involved with enforcing burning regulations. He is just as helpful and friendly, and he also suggested that I call the local fire department on the weekend.
A weekend day came when we were working outside and all of a sudden WHAM! we were inhaling God knows what from a neighbor’s fire. (We aren’t very close to any neighbors here, but smoke travels a long way and some of these guys build big fires.) So I called the nonemergency number of the local fire department and asked to speak to someone about illegal burning.
A man came on who identified himself as Captain So-and-So. I told him what was going on, and that I had been advised by Mr. EPA and Mr. County to call him on the weekend. That’s when the patronizing attitude came into play.
“Well, little lady,” he drawled. (I swear he DID say “little lady!”) “What’s this neighbor burning?”
“I don’t know. Why?” In other words, isn’t it your job to find out?
“Well, sometimes people just have a little something to burn. And we’ve given permits to a lot of people to go ahead and burn.”
“You’ve given permits?” I asked. “Are you authorized to do that?” (They aren’t. Only the EPA rep can do that.)
“Oh sure. We just let people burn pretty much whatever they want.”
The conversation went on like that, with me feeling like I was in the Twilight Zone. When I reported this interaction to Mr. EPA and Mr. County, they were disgusted but not surprised by Fire Captain’s attitude.
My point is that in this day and age why is anyone still burning openly? I maintain that people might not know it’s illegal. I asked Mr. County if the local paper wouldn’t run something from him, and he said “Not unless we pay for space.” That’s nice, isn’t it? Mr. EPA said he hands out flyers to all fire departments but he doesn’t know what happens to them after he hands them over. I say ignorance of the law is ignorance.
I’m sure my neighbors hate me, because nothing pisses off people more than being busted for doing something wrong. The fact that they wouldn’t be busted unless they were wrong probably won’t occur to them, because it’s so much yummier to blame someone else. But I can’t let that stop me. I quit smoking four years ago, and I didn’t move to the country to suck down someone else’s smoke.
We are also on a campaign to live a more green life, so this is doubly irksome.
Does anyone have any tips on how to get neighbors to stop burning illegally? If so, I’d like to hear them.
(It occurs to me that, lest I appear as though I have a stick up my ass for neighbors, I don’t care what they do on their own property on their own time unless it impacts on my life AND it’s illegal.)
