Certain types of open air fires in Windsor will now require a permit.
During Tuesday's council meeting, Windsor Fire and Rescue Services Deputy Fire Chief Jonathan Wilker presented a report to council asking that a by-law be passed to regulate open air burning within the City of Windsor.
Other than for the purpose of cooking, open air fires are prohibited in the city, but this by-law would allow residents to start campfires, prescribed burns for agricultural and fire hazard abatement uses, cooking fires and any other fire for which a permit has been issued.
The permit would cost $150 which the report says is the average cost per hour of service performed by a Fire Prevention Officer.
Windsor Fire and Rescue Services, city by-law officers and police would be responsible for enforcement.
The by-law was approved by council, and a report will be brought back to council with numbers and statistics on how the new by-law is working.
Mark McKenzie, ward 4 city councillor, says the enforcement side of it is a concern.
"Staff numbers, we're already kind of low on staff and by-law. I know that the Fire Department, you know, pretty much is maxed out when it comes to staff. So, how are we going to enforce this as well? So, I'm kind of looking forward to what this report says in six months, we kind of had that friendly agreement there that okay we'll support it for now, but let's review it in six months from now."
He says he feels that this may cause issues between neighbours.
"Say my neighbour has a fire in their backyard, I go out and complain they're going to say 'oh, well, I have a permit', even though they may or may not. Who knows, right? And I just feel that this is now going to cause more issues with residents, and even the residents who are then going to call us and say 'well my neighbour is having a fire', what can I do about it at that point?"
McKenzie says there will be a number of questions he's hoping will be answered in the next report on the by-law.
"How many people have applied and I guess the areas they applied to, were there any concerns? Were there complaints from residents as well, right? So, we'll kind of take all of those into account, and hopefully administration will come back in six months with a report for us and we can look at the by-law then and say 'well is it working? Isn't it working? Do changes need to be made?'."
A Fire Prevention Officer will be called upon to review the permit application and either approve or deny the application.
A Fire Prevention Officer will also have the ability to suggest changes to the applicant in order for the application to be updated and granted approval.
Councillor Angelo Marignani was concerned about smoke produced from meat smokers in the area, however Deputy Fire Chief Wilker says the smoke produced from smokers isn't an issue in accordance to the by-law as it falls under "cooking activity".
A review of the by-law and the permit application process will be presented to council within six months.