BROOKINGS – Brookings County commissioners enacted a countywide burn ban on Tuesday with the unanimous passage of Resolution 21-25.

“It’s getting really ugly out there,” Pete Bolzer, newly appointed Brookings fire chief, said. “I’m afraid for the firefighters’ safety.”

The burn ban prohibits all open burning in the county, as defined by county Ordinance 2009-02, without a prior written permit. 

The burn ban does not prohibit firepits or “recreational” fires in the county. Recreational fire is limited by size, making most backyard firepits permitted if they are covered and contained.

Burning trash in receptacles is also permitted by the resolution, according to a press release from the Brookings County Sheriff’s Office.

“I don’t think it’s a big surprise what our weather’s been doing to fuels around the county,” Bolzer said at Tuesday’s commission meeting. “We requested this real early this year. Typically, June is a wet, green month, but I think this last weekend proved exactly how bad it is getting out there.”

Bolzer cited a number of incidents from this past weekend, including safety chains from boats dragging on asphalt, setting “multiple fires,” and the Bruce fire department having “more calls Sunday morning and afternoon than they’ve had in a month.” 

“I realize this won’t take care of all of the accidental fires out there, but it will certainly help out. It should reduce the number of fires that the county firefighters respond to,” Bolzer added.

On Sunday evening, there was another fire north of Sinai that was caused by a burn pile. According to Bolzer, the fire burned down an abandoned house and around 30 hay bales.

“Every department in the county was there,” Bolzer said. “I was really getting concerned in the heat, because I saw some Volga firefighters that I thought were going to drop.”

The resolution stays a fire danger emergency now exists in Brookings County due to the lack of moisture.

Open burns are allowed only with a permit from the local fire chief, according to a public notice from the county. If a permit is obtained, dispatch must be notified at 605-692-2113 before the burn begins and when the burn is extinguished.

Anyone who violates the ban and “maintains, commits or fails to abate a public nuisance ... shall be subject to a maximum penalty of 30 days in jail, a $200 fine or both,” according to a pamphlet from the Brookings Fire Department, with a separate offense for each day a violation occurs or continues.

The ban went into effect immediately and remains in place until it’s rescinded by the commission. It does not include incorporated municipalities within the county.

Contact Addison DeHaven at adehaven@brookingsregister.com.