Fire Control By-Law

WHEREAS section 7.1(1) of the Fire Protection and Prevention Act, S.O. 1997, c4 as amended, provides that Council of a municipality may pass by-laws regulating the setting of open fires, including establishing the times during which open fires may be set; and

AND WHEREAS the Fire Prevention and Protection Act, S.O. 1997 provides that the Chief Fire Official or designate is required to approve open air burning and appropriate fire safety provisions; and

AND WHEREAS section 10(1)(2) of Municipal Act, S.O. 2006, provides that Council may regulate matters related to health, safety and well-being of the residents of the municipality; and

AND WHEREAS section 129 of the Municipal Act, S.O. 2001 provides that Council can prohibit and regulate matters that it deems to be a public nuisance; and

AND WHEREAS section 391 of the Municipal Act, S.O. 2001, provides that municipalities may pass by-laws imposing fees or charges on any class of persons for services or activities provided or done on behalf of it; and

NOW THEREFORE the Council of the Corporation of the Township of Champlain hereby enacts as follow:

1. Short Title

This By-Law shall be referred to as the "FIRE CONTROL BY-LAW".

2. Definitions

"By-law Enforcement Officer" means the officer in charge of by-law enforcement of The Corporation of the Township of Champlain or his/her authorized subordinates or assistants;

"Campfire" means an open fire that is no greater than one (1) meter in diameter, which is set and maintained solely for the purpose of cooking food, providing warmth and recreational enjoyment;

"Closed fire" means a fire that is enclosed in a container;

"Corporation" means The Corporation of the Township of Champlain;

"Fire" means fuel in state of combustion, the phenomenon of combustion manifested in light, flame and heat;

“Fire Ban” means a complete ban of all open fires. A fire ban is enacted by the Chief Fire Official or designate within the municipality by the authority of the Fire Protection and Prevention Act.

"Fire Chief" means the Director of the Fire & Emergency Services of the Corporation or his/her authorized subordinates or assistants;

“Highway” includes a common and public highway, street, avenue, parkway, driveway, square, place, bridge, viaduct or trestle, designated and intended for or used by the general public for the passage of vehicles and includes the area between the lateral property line;

“Open Air Fire” means the burning of material such as wood, tree limbs and branches where the flames are not wholly contained and exceeds 1 meter in diameter;

“Outdoor Fireplace” means a manufactured, non-combustible, enclosed container to hold a small fire for decorative purposes and the size of which does not exceed 1 metre in any direction and includes, but is not limited, to a chiminea;

“Permit” means a burning permit issued under this By-law, which grants a privilege to set a fire in the open air.

"Permit Holder" means the person (owner) applying for a burning permit and shall be eighteen (18) years of age or over;

"Person (owner)" includes, not only an individual, but also a corporation, a company, a firm, a partnership and any association;

"Township" means The Corporation of the Township of Champlain;

"Uncleared land" means land which consists of free standing trees including trees which have been felled;

"Yard" means the land other than publicly owned land around and appurtenant to the whole or any part of a dwelling and used or intended to be used, or capable of being used in connection with the dwelling;

“Automated Fire Alarms” shall mean all types of Automatic fire alarms and includes monitored systems, and non-monitored systems;

3. Application

a) The Ontario Fire Code 2.4.4.4. (1) (a) states:

“2.4.4.4. (1) Open-air burning shall not take place unless

(a) it has been approved, or

(b) the open-air burning consists of a small, confined fire that is

(i) used to cook food on a grill, barbecue or spit,

(ii) commensurate with the type and quantity of food being cooked, and

(iii) supervised at all times.”

b) No person shall set an open-air fire in the Township without first obtaining a permit from the By-Law Enforcement Officer, the Fire Chief or his alternates;

c) No person shall set an open fire in the central business section(s) and in the urban areas of the Township. The central business section(s) and urban area(s) being determined at the sole discretion of the Fire Chief;

d) Burning permits may be issued for the clean-up of brush in fringe areas of the Township and for a campfire. Fringe areas being determined at the sole discretion of the Fire Chief;

e) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsections 3.(c) and 3.(d), only the Fire Chief or the By-law Enforcement Officer may issue a burning permit for any fire under special circumstances or burning permits relating to farming operations including the duration of the permit or other conditions deemed appropriate or may, at their sole discretion, refuse to issue any burning permit depending on the conditions encountered.

4. Exclusions

a) No burning permit is required for an open-air fire when such burning consists of a small, confined fire, which is used to cook food, for enjoyment or set in an approved outdoor fireplace and is supervised at all times. Ontario Fire Code 2.4.4.4 (1) (b) and 2.4.4.4 (2)

5. Regulations

a) No person shall set an open fire or closed fire to burn any household kitchen garbage or construction materials made of or containing rubber, plastic, paint petroleum, tar, chemical wastes, pressure treated wood, synthetic or man-made materials or any other materials considered to create excessive smoke or smell;

b) Open air burning shall allow no more than one (1) cubic meter of material to be burned at any one time;

c) Means of extinguishment of the fire designated on the permit form must be available at the site at all times during the fire;

d) Open air burning shall only occur during daylight hours, except for a campfire and/or an outdoor fireplace, unless otherwise specified and approved;

e) Open air burning shall be supervised at all times and never be left unattended until it is completely extinguished;

f) The permit holder (applicant) must notify the Fire Department when the fire is lit and at the end of the day must extinguish the fire and advise the Fire Department that the fire is out;

g) The permit holder (applicant) shall notify the occupant(s) of adjacent property(ies) of his/her intentions of setting an open-air fire prior to setting the same;

h) No open fire shall be maintained when the wind is in such direction or of such intensity so as to result in a decrease in visibility on any highway or roadway or a risk of a rapid spread of fire through grass, brush area or wooded area;

i) No person shall set an uncontained fire regardless of the type of fuel used be it grass, hay or leaves or other;

j) Open air fire shall not be set closer than thirty (30) meters (100 feet) from any building or uncleared land;

k) Open fires set off directly to grass, leaves and other crops are strictly prohibited.

l) No person shall set or maintain an open-air fire or closed fire when the wind or atmospheric condition carries the smoke over other residential properties causing any impairment or discomfort to persons and animals and/or damage to neighbouring properties;

m) No person shall set or maintain an open fire when the Fire Chief has issued a fire ban;

n) Notwithstanding any provisions herein, no person shall set or maintain a fire:

(i) on any highway or municipal property within the Township;

(ii) on any asphalt surface;

(iii) in any park owned and/or operated by the Corporation without the written permission of the Corporation.

6. General Provisions

a) This By-Law shall apply to the whole area of the Township of Champlain;

b) The application for the setting off an open fire shall be according to Schedule "A" attached hereto and forming part of this By-Law;

c) The By-Law Enforcement Officer and/or the Fire Chief shall refuse any incomplete application for a permit for the setting off of an open fire;

d) The owner or any one of the joint owners shall sign the application for a permit;

e) Permits that are issued for an open-air fire only, shall only be issued for a period of 7 consecutive days.

f) For the period of September to May, a farming operation or land-clearing applicant may apply for a permit for 30 consecutive days based on the following conditions;

(i) The land where the fire is to be set must have an area of not less than 4.05 hectares (10 acres);

(ii) The Fire Chief(s) and/or By-Law Enforcement Officer may, at any time and at his/her sole discretion, repeal the fire permit due to weather conditions or for any other reasons that are deemed appropriate for safety reasons;

(iii) That any breach in the provisions of this Fire Permit or By-Law will require the permit holder to reimburse the Township any costs incurred for fire protection services. In addition, the owner(s) will continue to assume all responsibility and liability for voluntarily setting off a fire.

(iv) That the issuance of the fire permit will be conditional to the following criteria:

(a) that the burning of any structure or building will not be permitted and that only burning of brush/branches will be authorized;

(b) that a minimum set back of 30 metres will be required from all property lines.

g) A burning permit may be cancelled or suspended at any time by the Fire Chief or the By-Law Enforcement Officer and immediately upon receiving notice of such cancellation or suspension, the permit holder (applicant) shall extinguish any fire started under the permit;

h) Even with the benefit of a permit, all persons setting or permitting an open fire in the Township shall:

(i) Be responsible for any damage to property or injury to persons occasioned by the said fire;

(ii) Be liable for costs incurred by the Fire Department, including personnel equipment and apparatus necessary and called in to extinguish the said fire.

7. Fees and Service Charges

a) All persons who are liable pursuant to paragraph 6 (h) (ii) of this By-Law shall be forwarded an invoice.

b) The charges or fees imposed for a Fire Department response shall be based on what is known as the MTO Rate, a rate set by the Ministry of Transportation of Ontario for every Fire Department Emergency Vehicle responding to an emergency. The rate applicable for the current year appears in the User Fee By-law.

c) All invoices shall require payment within thirty (30) days from the date of invoices and all overdue accounts shall be levied interest at the rate of 1.25 percent per month or fraction thereof.

d) Should outstanding or unpaid invoice(s) exist, the Township shall add the said charges and fees imposed, including penalty charges under the provisions of this By-Law, to the appropriate tax roll for any real property in the Township all of the owners of which are responsible for paying the fee charges including interest thereto and the Township shall collect the same in like manner as municipal taxes.

e) All costs associated with false alarms due to automated fire alarms, exceeding the number of false alarms permitted in the Township’s user fees by-law, shall be levied and charged to the owner of the property where the false alarms have occurred. The owner of the property must have been notified of the alarm activation by the Fire Service and advised to have the system repaired or tested. Only owners that are negligent in maintaining their fire alarm systems as required will be charged as per the User Fee By-Law, as amended.

8. Environment Protection Act

a) This By-Law does not cover any requirements under the Environmental Protection Act. Any fire is subject to the regulations set down by the Ministry of Environment regarding air pollution.

9. Penalties and Enforcement

a) It shall be the responsibility of the By-Law Enforcement Officer and the Fire Chief of the Corporation to enforce the penalties and provisions of this By-Law;

b) Every person who contravenes any of the provisions of this By-Law is guilty of an offence and is liable to pay a penalty as specified in the Administrative Monetary Penalty System (“AMPS”) By-Law of the Township, as amended from time to time;

c) The receipt of payment signed by the person assigned to the duty of receiving payments out of Court, shall be evidence of payment of the penalty provided for the violation.

10. Severability

a) If a court of competent jurisdiction should declare any paragraph or part of a paragraph of this By-Law to be invalid or ultra vires such paragraph or part of a paragraph shall not be construed as having persuaded or influenced Council to pass the remainder of this By-Law and it is hereby declared that the remainder of this By-Law shall be valid and shall remain in force.

11. Minor Corrections and Administration

a) The Clerk of the Township of Champlain is hereby authorized to make any minor modifications or corrections of an administrative, numeric, grammatical, semantic or descriptive nature or kind to the by-law and schedule(s) as may be deemed necessary after the passage of this by-law, where such modifications or corrections do not alter the intent of the by-law.

b) The Fire Chief or the By-Law Enforcement Officer shall administer this By-law and establish any additional practices, policies and procedures necessary to implement this By-law and may amend such practices, policies and procedures from time to time as it deems necessary, without amendment to this By-law.

12. Date of Effect

This By-Law shall come into force and effect on August 1, 2024.

Repealing of Former By-Law

That By-law Number 2010-19 is hereby repealed on August 1, 2024.

READ a first, second and third time and duly adopted this 27th day of June, 2024.