Open Burning – A Cape Cod Rite Of Spring

Open Burning is a tradition Cape Codders know as a true sign of spring. Fire is a tool to clean out your yard, but what do the regulations say and what are some common mistakes people make? Orleans' Fire Chief gives us the rundown, and Kristin Andres from the Association to Preserve Cape Cod knows what to do with the material you're not allowed to burn.

What is open burning season?

For Earth Month LCTV is looking at a Cape Cod tradition to use fire as a tool to cleaning up your yard the first four months of the year. For some it's a nuisance and for some a right to be upheld. Nonetheless, for those house owners wanting to pile burn, open burning season, from January 15 to May 1, is not over yet, but with the unpredictable Cape Cod spring weather, the days with permitted burning are numbered. If you still haven't set alight that pile of brush and tree parts you want to get rid of, there are a few things Chief Deering at Orleans Fire Department wants you to be aware of when you do.

How do you control a pile burn?

Chief Deering recommends keeping the fire small, three feet by three feet, add brush and branches slowly, keep a garden hose is nearby. Make sure the debris is as dry as possible to not disturb your neighbors with too much smoke. The allowed material is strictly limited to brush, tree branches and limbs.

What can you do do with non-permissable material?

Kristin Andres from Association to Preserve Cape Cod says there is a more unconventional way to spring clean your yard: Don't. To create ecological Cape Cod landscapes Kristin suggests leaving the leaves on the ground where they house overwintered insects like pollinators and bugs providing lunch and dinner for ground-feeding birds. The rufous-sided towhee feast on

Neatness may be aesthetically pleasing, but immaculate yards

What are prescribed burns?

For millennia humans have used fire as an ecological tool, to manage land and habitats, to hunt and mitigate the risk of devastating wildfires. Orleans Fire Department oversees prescribed and controlled burns aimed to remove brush and debris in nature, also called fuel for wildfires, a necessity in habited areas with a risk for wildfires, such as the Cape where the dry and windy summer seasons could risk spreading an ignited patch of land to a much more severe scenario. Clearing land from invasive species is also an area where prescribed burns benefits the environment.