CHENANGO COUNTY - New York State's annual Spring Burn Ban will be taking effect from March 16 to May 14.

Open burning is regulated under Part 215 of Chapter III, Subchapter A, of Title 6 of New York State's code. It is enforced by the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC). The law allows for on-site brush burning between May 15 and the following March 15, in most towns with fewer than 20,000 residents. Hence an annual brush burn ban is in place from March 16 to May 14 when there are heightened conditions for wildfires. It is illegal to burn trash statewide per Part 219 of the same NYS code. You can review the NYS code at govt.westlaw.com/nycrr

According to the NY DEC the single largest cause of spring wildfires is open burning of brush and debris. The burn ban was instituted in 2009, and according to DEC officials, since being codified it has reduced wildland fire occurrences by 40%.

The Norwich City Fire Chief, Gerald Parry Jr., said that, “This is a team effort and we just need to have the community involved with making sure that the regulations are followed and everybody takes into consideration the safety, the concerns that exist not only for themselves but their neighbors. It also poses hazards for the first responder side as well because our personnel are going out there to put out those fires that were unnecessary or accidental and that poses a risk to our personnel too.”