Dysart’s fire regulations are getting more aligned with the county.
Councillors voted unanimously earlier today to pass the Open Air Burning Bylaw.
This bylaw, according to Fire Chief, Mike Iles, is designed in such a way to be more inclusive and create a sense of uniformity across the four municipalities.
Iles says the biggest thing in the bylaw is the fact that all of the municipalities now operate under the same timeline for daytime burning restrictions.
Chief Iles explained that Dysart, like Algonquin Highlands, has opted to not allow commercial weekend burning permits.
Iles said the decision really came down to the enforcement and complaints associated with allowing that. “We have to attend,” said Iles who goes on to say the department treats every call like a worst case scenario so there would be a heavy cost attached to responding to complaints throughout the summer.
Algonquin Highlands has already passed their version of the bylaw, whereas Highlands East’s Interim Fire Chief Chris Braughman was asked to revise the section of it dealing with weekend burning.