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Case <br /> <br />REQUEST OF F & R ENTERPRISES <br />FOR AN OPEN BURNING PERMIT <br /> <br />By: William K. Goodrich, City Attorney <br /> <br />BACKGROUND: <br /> <br />F & R Enterprises is the owner of a large tract of land lying east <br />of Puma Avenue, north of the Burlington Northern Tracks and south <br />of 153rd Avenue and west of County 83. This is a former pine tree <br />plantation which still has thousands of pine trees growing on it. <br />In April, 1988, a fire started on an area of the plantation located <br />close to the railroad tracks covering approximately 25 acres. The <br />fire was extinguished by local fire departments and DNR wild fire <br />fighting crews. After the fire, thousands of partially burned pine <br />trees remained. In addition, the 1988 drought created many dead <br />trees plus the pine bark beetle disease added additional dead <br />trees. <br /> <br />F & R is requesting an open burning permit to dispose of the dead <br />trees. Staff has evaluated this request and makes the following <br />observations: <br /> <br />(1) <br /> <br />Burning is not a viable disposal alternative because of <br />the following concerns: <br /> <br />(a) <br /> <br />Smoke poses a great risk to Highway 10 vehicle <br />traffic and the railroad traffic because of <br />visibility concerns. <br /> <br />(b) <br /> <br />Smoke may impact safety at the Gateway North <br />Industrial Airport which lies approximately 1~ miles <br />east of the site. <br /> <br />(c) <br /> <br />Fire could spread to the many standing dead pine <br />trees, which have died as a result of the beetle <br />disease. Also, the forest floor below these trees <br />consist of dr~ needle tinder which are extremely <br />fire prone. Because there are thousands of living <br />pine trees left on the site, mainly to the north of <br />the burned area, substantial fuel exists for an out <br />cf control fire. The volume of material to be <br />burned is substantial and thereiore may require <br />several weeks of burning, which would require <br />constant monitoring and supervising, therefore, the <br />out of control fire risk is increased. <br /> <br />(2) <br /> <br />Staff believes that there are reasonable, practical <br />alternative methods of disposal. These include vo!une <br />reduction by means of chipping, transportation off-site' <br />and/or burying stumps on site. <br /> <br /> <br />