WHITMAN — Fire Chief Timothy Grenno would like to inform Whitman residents that open burning season begins Jan. 15 and runs through May 1.
Under the Commonwealth’s annual burning period, Whitman residents will only be allowed to conduct open burning between the hours of 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. Residents are required to call the Whitman Fire Department’s burning line at 781-618-9872 and leave their information, and a message will indicate if burning is allowed that day or not.
Residents looking to obtain a new permit application should call the Whitman Fire Department at 781-447-7626 and speak to the department’s on-duty shift commander. New permits must be picked up in person at the station.
Those who have been granted a permit in the past do not need to obtain a new one this year; burning permits are valid for the length a homeowner owns their property.
Open burning can only be conducted with a permit issued by the Whitman Fire Department and is only permitted for brush, cane, driftwood, and forestry debris from other than commercial or industrial land clearing operations. Burning grass, hay, leaves, stumps, and commercial or industrial land clearing for non-agricultural purposes is prohibited.
The requirement to check in each day is based on changing atmospheric and weather conditions such as wind or air dryness. The department’s on-duty shift commanders will make a determination before 9 a.m. each day whether burning will be allowed in town.
Violations of the permit requirements, open burning law, and/or open burning regulations will be grounds for permit revocation. According to Massachusetts law, anyone found burning without a permit may be subject to criminal charges, the punishment for which is a fine of up to $500, plus the cost of suppression or by imprisonment for up to one month, or both.
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