NORTH CAROLINA GENERAL ASSEMBLY
1963 SESSION
CHAPTER 617
HOUSE BILL 843
AN ACT TO AMEND ARTICLE 22 OF CHAPTER 14 OF THE GENERAL STATUTES RELATING TO THE SETTING OF FOREST FIRES AND BURNING PERMITS IN FORESTED AREAS.
The General Assembly of North Carolina do enact:
Section 1. Article 22 of Chapter 14 of the General Statutes, as the same appears in the 1961 Cumulative Supplement to the General Statutes of North Carolina, is hereby amended by adding at the end of G.S. 14-139 a new sentence reading as follows:
"The provisions of the above Section shall not apply to Dare, Hyde, Tyrrell and Washington Counties."
Sec. 2. Article 22 of Chapter 14 is further amended by adding a new Section immediately following G.S. 14-139, to be designated G.S. 14-139.1 and to read as follows:
"G.S. 14-139.1. It shall be unlawful for any person, firm or corporation to wilfully start, or cause to be started, any fire, in any of the areas of woodlands under the protection of the State Forest Service or within 500 feet of any such protected area without first having obtained from the State Forester, or from one of his duly authorized agents, a permit to start and burn such fire in the above-mentioned protected areas, during the period between the first day of February and the first day of December of any year.
"During periods of hazardous fire conditions, the State Forester is authorized to cancel all permits and to prohibit all brush pile burning and burning of other debris capable of spreading fires to woodlands without regard to the distance from such fires to such woodlands.
"It shall be unlawful for any person, firm or corporation to wilfully burn any debris, stumps, brush or other inflammable material accumulated as a result of ground clearance activities between the first day of February and the first day of December of any year without having first received a special burning permit from the State Forester, or his duly authorized agent, and such special permit shall be granted by the State Forester, or his authorized agent, only if he has personally inspected the site of the proposed burning, and has assessed the conditions which might endanger protected woodlands as a result of such burning. The State Forester, or his authorized agent, shall be empowered to prohibit all brush burning and burning of other debris capable of spreading fire to protected woodlands regardless of the distance such burning operation may be from the said woodlands, when it is determined that hazardous fire conditions exist. No charge shall be made for the granting of any permit required by this Section.
"If a fire is discovered burning in any area of the State under any conditions which are considered by the State Forester, or his authorized agent, to be hazardous to the protected forest in the vicinity, the State Forester, or any of his authorized agents, are hereby empowered to enter upon the lands where such burning is occurring and, at their option, to extinguish such fires constituting a danger to adjoining woodlands.
"This Section shall not apply to any fires started, or caused to be started, within 100 feet of an occupied dwelling house, if such fire shall be confined within an enclosure from which burning material may not escape, or within a protected area upon which a watch is being maintained and which is provided with adequate fire protection equipment.
"Violation of any of the provisions of this Section shall constitute a misdemeanor punishable by fine or imprisonment in the discretion of the court."
Sec. 3. The provisions of this Section shall apply only to the counties of Dare, Hyde, Tyrrell, and Washington.
Sec. 4. All laws and clauses of laws in conflict with this Act are hereby repealed.
Sec. 5. This Act shall be in full force and effect from and after its ratification.
In the General Assembly read three times and ratified, this the 29th day of May, 1963.