Public Act 097-0488
 
HB1359 EnrolledLRB097 05235 RLJ 45285 b

    AN ACT concerning local government.
 
    Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:
 
    Section 5. The Fire Protection District Act is amended by
changing Section 8.20 as follows:
 
    (70 ILCS 705/8.20)
    Sec. 8.20. Open burning.
    (a) The board of trustees of any fire protection district
incorporated under this Act may, by ordinance, require that the
district be notified of open burning within the district before
it takes place, but shall not require that a permit for open
burning be obtained from the district. The district may not
enforce an ordinance adopted under this Section within the
corporate limits of a county with a population of 3,000,000 or
more or a municipality with a population of 1,000,000 or more.
    (b) The fire department of a fire protection district may
extinguish any open burn that presents a clear, present, and
unreasonable danger to persons or adjacent property or that
presents an unreasonable risk because of wind, weather, or the
types of combustibles. The unreasonable risk may include the
height of flames, windblown embers, the creation of hazardous
fumes, or an unattended fire. Fire departments may not
unreasonably interfere with permitted and legal open burning.
    (c) The fire protection district may provide that persons
setting open burns on any agricultural land with an area of 50
acres or more may voluntarily comply with the provisions of an
ordinance adopted under this Section.
    (d) The fire chief or any other designated officer of a
fire department of any fire protection district incorporated
under this Act may, with the authorization of the board of
trustees of the fire protection district, prohibit open burning
within the district on an emergency basis, for a limited period
of time, if (i) the atmospheric conditions or other
circumstances create an unreasonable risk of fire because of
wind, weather, or the types of combustibles and (ii) the
resources of the fire department are not sufficient to control
and suppress a fire resulting from one or more of the
conditions or circumstances described in clause (i) of this
subsection. For the purposes of this subsection, "open burning"
includes, but is not limited to, the burning of landscape
waste, agricultural waste, household trash, and garbage.
    This Section does not authorize the open burning of any
waste. The open burning of waste is subject to the restrictions
and prohibitions of the Environmental Protection Act and the
rules and regulations adopted under its authority.
(Source: P.A. 92-762, eff. 1-1-03.)

Effective Date: 1/1/2012