By Jason C. Mattox

The City of Batesville may soon consider requiring burn permits for all residential burns, after meeting with fire inspector Brett Childs and Fire Chief Tim Taylor last Wednesday.

Childs told Aldermen that requiring permits would cut down on a number of false alarms firefighters respond to each year.

“We need to issue burn permits so when people are burning leaves, their neighbor won’t call us out for a fire,” he said. “They could call us and we would know a permit was issued, and it would save the city money in fuel and other expenses.”

Childs reminded aldermen they have no burn ordinance on the books at the present time.

“We can ask them to get a permit, but we don’t have anything in writing,” he said.

Childs said the city would need to begin charging for commercial burn permits while the residential permits would be granted twice a month with no charge.

“Burn permits for contractors could go for anywhere from $50 to $350 depending on how big the burn is going to be,” he said. “Most cities charge $500 for commercial burn permits.”

Childs explained that residential permits will be good for seven days, and after two in a month period, a $5 fee would be charged for additional burns.

Childs also proposed a minimal fine scale of a written warning for the first violation, $50 for the second, $75 for a third and $100 for each addition violation.

Ward 4 Alderman Bobbie Jean Pounders asked Childs what the department would do if the smoke began bothering neighbors.

“I have a lot of people in my ward who have breathing problems, and the smoke would not be good for their health,” she said.

Taylor said if the department received a complaint about a permitted burn, the permit would be revoked.

Aldermen are expected to take action on the request for a burn ordinance at the Dec. 16 meeting.