Burn ban vs. BBQ

County considers clarification conundrum

By DAVE CALDWELL, Staff Writer dcaldwell@minotdailynews.com
Burn ban, shmurn ban. According to Minot Fire Chief C.J. Craven, having a ban on open burning has been a good idea in the past few weeks during explosively dry conditions, but without a set of guidelines to follow, the ban largely lacks teeth for enforcement.


Ward County commissioners put their heads together at their regularly scheduled meeting Tuesday to figure out a solution to that problem, as well as other burn-related quandaries.


Roy Saul, owner of a new restaurant called Roy’s Barbecue Shoppe in downtown Minot, appeared before the commission to make a plea for clarification in the burn ban.


“In reading the burn ban, my smoker may or may not be included in it,” Saul said. “It doesn’t specifically prohibit the use of the smoker, and with the equipment itself, there’s no open burning.”


Saul told the commissioners that he had Craven and Minot Fire Marshal Ed Hausauer come to the restaurant and inspect the equipment, and although both said it was safe, both also told Saul that they had no authority to allow or disallow its use. Without the ability to utilize the smoker, Saul said he would have to close down, laying off his employees in the process.


“I’m asking the commission to give the authority back to the experts who ask you to put it into place to make individual inspections and approve operation,” Saul said. “I’ve taken every step I can to make it a safe operation.”


Saul’s smoker does not utilize open flame for cooking, only smoldering wood and charcoal to slow-cook the meat. It is made of cold-rolled steel and has a firebox that remains closed during cooking.


“I have compassion for what you’re doing here, but we have other situations that people can say are safe,” said Commissioner Jim Lee. “If you start making exceptions, it’s where do you stop and where do you start?”


Lee said there are two dried-up sloughs on his property that are filled with cattails and surrounded by black soil that he would love to burn, but can’t.


Lee said if they granted one to Saul, the board would be barraged by people looking for exceptions.


The board called on Minot Rural Fire Chief Rex Weltikol, whose expertise has been the main catalyst during the countywide burn ban, to provide insight. Weltikol said that the county had only been following the loose rules set by the North Dakota Century Code, making modifications for things like charcoal grills, which are currently prohibited from use.


“We’re not really following any hard, fast guidelines,” Weltikol said. “We’re currently going by the North Dakota Rural Fire Danger Guide, but we need to set a precedence.


“What Mr. Saul has is like a house with a chimney. He’s got a safe operation there. It’s not that we’re issuing him a permit or anything like that, but this is like a fireplace in your home – but with no open flames.”


Weltikol advocated adoption of Stage 2 of the fire danger guide as the county’s burn ban policy. He said that along with Saul, several other businesses were suffering due to the ban, such as metal fabrication businesses that were not allowed to use cutting torches.


“We want to be on the same page,” Craven said. “What I’m asking for today is to adopt these guidelines so that I can enforce the burn ban inside the City of Minot. I have a hard time going, ‘You can do this, you can’t do this.’ What guidelines am I using?”


Commissioners began to balk immediately, however, upon reading the guide when they realized that smoking was also prohibited under many circumstances.


“Do you guys intend to enforce that?” asked Commissioner John Fjeldahl.


“There’s no way in the world,” Weltikol laughed. “But you do the best you can with what you’ve got.”


Ward County State’s Attorney John Van Grinsven III told the board that it would in effect open a can of worms by adopting a policy that contains exceptions, but shared hopes that common sense would prevail on enforcement.


“Trying to define every hypothetical situation that will come up, that’s difficult,” Van Grinsven said. “It’s almost like somebody calling me at home at 10:30 and saying, ‘I’m at the bar. I’ve had seven drinks. Can I drive home?’ Well, I’m not going to answer that.”


Van Grinsven said that under a “mistake of law” scenario, if a person is acting in good faith under the advisement of a public official, it could be an affirmative defense of an alleged violation.


“Also, people smoking a cigarette on Main Street might be in violation of this,” he said. “I come back to the common sense. If that infraction comes in (for prosecution), we’re going to look at that to see if there are sufficient facts here to establish that it was in fact a violation.”


Weltikol said that Craven needed guidelines so that businesses in the city could function.


Fjeldahl countered that farming is a business, too, and farmers would love to get a chance to burn off their land.


The motion to adopt Stage 2 of the guide was deadlocked at 2-2, as Lee and Fjeldahl voted for an outright ban on all burning. Commissioner Darlene Watne was not in attendance.


In the end, however, after consulting with the fire chiefs during a recess in the meeting, a reassured Fjeldahl voted to adopt the Stage 2 guidelines, joining Commissioners Jerome Gruenberg and Carroll Erickson in a 3-1 vote.


As a result, a fire in a closed chamber with a chimney is now permitted, as is welding with spark arrestors and a 10-foot area clear of combustibles. Off-road vehicles are outlawed except when used as part of a trade, business or occupation and a fire extinguisher is present. Smoking, although unlikely to be heavily enforced, is confined to inside vehicles, inside homes or areas closed to mineral soil. Complete guidelines can be found


on the Internet at (www.nd.gov/des/info/docs/fire-danger-guide.pdf).


In other business:

• The board unanimously approved new policies and procedures for county juvenile detention, and approved the purchase of new camera equipment for the jail.
• The board voted unanimously to take bids on a salary study for county employees. The county highway department in particular is taking a hit from competition by high-paying oilfield jobs.
• The board appointed Ernest Medalen to the Tuition Appeals Committee and Ken Kitzman to the County Park Board.