CHENANGO COUNTY – The Chenango County Sheriff’s Office wants to remind people that for the next two months, all residential brush burning is banned by order of the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC).

Monday is the first day of a statewide ban against brush burning in small communities across the state. The regulation enacted in 2009 permits brush burning in towns with populations less than 20,000 for most of the year, but not during the spring, when the bulk of the state’s wildfires occur.

The ban begin today and will be in effect from March 15 to May 15.