Laguna Niguel Municipal Code Art. 2 Fire Regulations

Footnotes:

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Cross reference— Parks and recreational facilities, tit. 13; campfires in parks, § 13-1-65.

It shall be unlawful in the city for any person to ignite or light a fire or use fire for clearing land, or to burn brush, stumps, logs, fallen timber, fallows, slash or grass or forest-covered land or any other flammable material, or to blast with dynamite, powder or other explosives or set off fireworks of any kind in any forest, fallows or brush-, grass- or grain-covered land, either on his own land or the property of another, unless such burning or blasting is done under a written permit from a federal or state officer or a fire warden duly authorized to issue such permits within the city. No written permission shall be necessary to burn flammable material in small heaps or piles, where the fire is set on a public road or in dooryard premises, corrals, gardens or plowed fields, at a distance not less than 100 feet from any woodland, timber or brush-covered land or field containing dry grass or other flammable material. There shall be at least one adult person in actual attendance and in charge of such fire at all times during its burning. Nothing in this section shall prevent the use of fires in permanent homes for domestic purposes.

(Ord. No. 90-11, § 3, 3-6-90)

It shall be unlawful for any person to smoke cigars, cigarettes, pipes or other tobacco products in any form on or in any area designated as a high fire hazard area by the city fire chief.

(Ord. No. 90-11, § 3, 3-6-90)

It shall be unlawful in the city for any person to set fire or cause or procure fire to be set to any forest, brush or other flammable vegetation growing on lands not his own, without permission of the owner or agent of such lands, or to set, ignite, use or maintain a campfire or other fire on the property of another or upon any public road, street or highway which contains a cover of forest, brush, grass or other flammable vegetation, between April 15 and December 31 of any year, without first obtaining written permission from the owner, or his agent, of such lands. Such written permission must be approved by a forest ranger or duly authorized fire warden before starting such fire, unless such person possesses a written campfire permit duly issued by or under authority of the United States Forestry Service for use in a territory under the jurisdiction of the United States Forestry Service and is fully complying with all rules and regulations of the United States Forestry Service; provided that no written permission shall be necessary to build or maintain campfires within the boundaries of an established campground or site which has been designated for such use by the fire warden or state forest ranger as provided in section 11-3-88.

(Ord. No. 90-11, § 3, 3-6-90)

The fire warden or state forest ranger having charge and jurisdiction of fire control in the city is hereby authorized at his discretion to designate campgrounds or sites on private property by written request of the owner, or on public roads with the permission of the owner of adjoining or abutting lands, where campfires may be built and maintained, and the fire warden or ranger shall cause to be displayed proper signs or posters indicating the limits or places where campfires may be built and maintained; provided, however, that any person building or maintaining or using a campfire within the boundaries of such campground or site shall, before leaving such campfire, thoroughly extinguish the fire in such manner as to adequately prevent such fire from burning thereafter, and that while any person is using or maintaining such campfire there shall be at least one adult person in actual attendance and in charge of such fire at all times during its burning.

(Ord. No. 90-11, § 3, 3-6-90)

Cross reference— Campfires in parks, § 13-1-65.

For purposes of this article, a campsite or campground is hereby declared to be a place which has been and is cleared from all underbrush, leaves, needles and other inflammable vegetation or other material, other than a building or structure, over a sufficient area to remove any danger of fire spreading from such campground or site.

(Ord. No. 90-11, § 3, 3-6-90)

The fire warden or state forest ranger having charge and jurisdiction of fire control in the city is hereby authorized, at his discretion, to close any private property or portion thereof to smoking, or to all public use, by written request of the owner of such private property, when such property contains a cover of forest, brush or other highly inflammable vegetation pertaining to range and watershed areas, and such fire warden or ranger closing such property or portion thereof shall cause to be displayed suitable signs or posters not less than three to the mile along all exterior boundaries and at all roads and trails entering such property so closed to public use or smoking.

(Ord. No. 90-11, § 3, 3-6-90)

In the city, every person owning, leasing or controlling or operating any apiary, house, cabin, hotel or other building or structure upon or adjoining any mountainous or forest or brush-covered land covered with other inflammable vegetation, and every person owning, leasing or controlling any such land, shall at all times maintain upon his land around or adjacent to such apiary, cabin, house, hotel or other building or structure an effective fire protection or firebreak. Such fire protection or firebreak shall be made by removing all inflammable vegetation or growth that may exist from the ground around the apiary, cabin, house, hotel or other building or structure for a distance of not less than 30 feet, or to the property line of the property upon which such structure is erected, from the exterior walls or surfaces thereof. This section shall not apply to trees, except where dead or where the foliage of the tree is within ten feet of a chimney, nor shall it apply to evergreen vegetation where growing and preserved for decorative effect. Each chimney upon any cabin, house, hotel, apiary, building or structure upon any mountainous or forest or brush-covered land shall be equipped with and the entire outlet thereof shall be covered by an adequate metal spark arrester of a type and design approved by the fire warden.

(Ord. No. 90-11, § 3, 3-6-90)

It shall be unlawful in the city for any person to place or maintain, or cause or permit to be placed or maintained, upon his own lands or lands of another, any rubbish, paper, shavings, products of petroleum or other combustible material which constitutes a fire menace, except at places designated by a duly authorized fire warden. Such combustible material shall be buried with earth or destroyed by fire by such person as provided in section 11-3-85.

(Ord. No. 90-11, § 3, 3-6-90)

All fallen timber, slash, brush, grass, litter, limbwood or branches of trees resulting from road building or clearing up of subdivisions, mountain homesites, etc., within or upon any forest-, brush- or grass-covered lands shall be destroyed by fire as provided under section 11-3-85, or disposed of in some other satisfactory manner, so that it will not constitute a fire menace.

(Ord. No. 90-11, § 3, 3-6-90)

To carry out the purpose of this article, the fire warden and his deputies and federal and state forest officers are hereby made peace officers empowered to issue permits in writing to light fires, to use fires, to blast or use explosives and to inspect and abate any condition that might constitute a fire menace or a menace to the public peace, health or safety. Such fire warden shall include in any permit such safeguarding restrictions and precautions as are reasonably necessary to prevent such fires or blasting from endangering life or property. No permit issued shall exonerate any person from civil or criminal liability in case injury results from such fire to persons or property. Any authorized fire warden or forest officer has the power to refuse, revoke or postpone permits when necessary for the protection of life or property.

(Ord. No. 90-11, § 3, 3-6-90)