Lee County officials have made a few changes to a proposed ordinance that would regulate open burning in the county’s unincorporated areas.

The revisions would make the ordinance less restrictive, most notably by allowing open burning at any time of day or night, according to the ordinance. It’s been held over twice by the Lee County Board, at the August and September meetings, but is set to be up for approval at the Oct. 23 meeting.

It’s standard practice for the board to hold over an ordinance the first time it’s up for approval to allow for residents to voice their opinions. The ordinance was held over a second time due to more recent changes, Lee County Administrator Jeremy Englund told Shaw Local.

Englund said the feedback county officials received was “all positive” and led to the various changes that were made.

According to the proposed ordinance, those changes include:

• Allowing “burning of vegetation in public right-of-way, including ditches” as long as it’s with the consent of that jurisdiction’s road authority and follows the “applicable safety provisions” of the ordinance.
• Addressing potential smoke impacts by saying that “reasonable precautions” should be taken to “minimize” them, and that “incidental smoke drift” would not be a violation ”unless it creates a traffic hazard or endangers public safety."
• Fires don’t need to be located within 25 feet of a water source; instead, they need to be “accompanied by appropriate fire-suppression equipment” such as “a water source, fire extinguisher, rake or shovel.”
• Violations include mostly the same penalties except that the first two offenses have a set fine, with the first being $250 and the second set at $500.

What hasn’t changed is that, if approved, the ordinance would ban burning all materials, except landscape and agricultural waste, during “periods of elevated fire risk” such as during a red-flag warning, the ordinance says.

It also still requires prior notification to the area’s fire district before burning except for certain types of fires, that all fires are to be supervised by a person at least 18 years old and are to be “a safe distance away from buildings, vehicles and flammable materials,” according to the ordinance.

At the Aug. 21 board meeting, Lee County Sheriff Clay Whelan explained that the ordinance is intended to hold residents accountable for their burning, specifically when burns are conducted during a red-flag warning and result in an emergency response.

“We don’t want to prohibit farmers from burning their fence lines. We just want everybody to be responsible and act accordingly,” Whelan said.

Red-flag warnings are issued by the National Weather Service to indicate a high risk of wildfire due to conditions such as strong winds, low humidity and warm temperatures, according to the NWS.

“We had one day in Lee County where there was a red-flag warning and every fire department in Lee County was deployed” for brush and grass fires, Whelan said.

The ordinance is set to be voted on again at the next meeting, set for 6 p.m. Oct. 23, on the third floor of the Old Lee County Courthouse, 112 E. Second St., Dixon.