Georgia burn ban now in effect

Thu, 05/01/2008 - 4:10pm
By: The Citizen

Georgia’s annual air quality ban on outdoor burning, mostly in the northern half of Georgia, began May 1, 2008. The annual restrictions will be in place for 54 counties through Sept. 30.

“The Georgia Environmental Protection Division puts this ban in place to comply with Federal Clean Air Regulations,” said Alan Dozier, Chief of Forest Protection for the Georgia Forestry Commission. “Ozone levels increase to unhealthy levels in summer,” he said. “Most types of open burning are restricted during the ban in an effort to manage the summertime surge in ozone levels.”

The following counties are under the 2008 burn ban: Banks, Barrow, Bartow, Bibb, Butts, Carroll, Catoosa, Chattooga, Cherokee, Clarke, Clayton, Cobb, Columbia, Coweta, Crawford, Dawson, DeKalb, Douglas, Fayette, Floyd, Forsyth, Fulton, Gordon, Gwinnett, Hall, Haralson, Heard, Henry, Houston, Jackson, Jasper, Jones, Lamar, Lumpkin, Madison, Meriwether, Monroe, Morgan, Newton, Oconee, Paulding, Peach, Pickens, Pike, Polk, Putnam, Richmond, Rockdale, Spalding, Troup, Twiggs, Upson, Walker and Walton.

The outdoor burning ban is under the jurisdiction of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources (DNR), Environmental Protection Division (EPD), Air Protection Branch.

The Georgia Forestry Commission operates an on-line burn permit system at 1-877-OK2-BURN. The phone system informs callers by county whether or not they can burn. Residents may also call their county GFC office for more information or visit GaTrees.org.

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Submitted by needtobegreen on Mon, 05/26/2008 - 10:38am.

I live outside the city limits in Coweta county. I am ALL for the burn ban. Coweta has grown by leaps and bounds and we need to set boundaries for CLEANER AIR! I see so many citizens burning daily during the burn ban! Just ride down any back roads on any given day and you will see many violations especially folks who are using gasoline on the piles they are burning.

Come on Citizens of Newnan even if you don't live in the city limits at least abide by the laws of the land. We can all start polluting our county again come Sept 30th.

Submitted by 30YearResident on Fri, 05/02/2008 - 10:24am.

In the winter, when everything has died out and dried out making it easy for fires to get out of control, it's okay to burn.

But in summer, when it's green, spring rains, etc., there's a burning ban ??

GOVERNMENT !!!

Submitted by Spyglass on Fri, 05/02/2008 - 11:11am.

It's much worse in the warmer months.

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