SAN MARCO, Fla. – A San Marco business owner was ticketed after the illegal burning of chemically treated wood and trash was caught on camera Monday morning.
The burning took place at an auto repair shop on St. Augustine Road in San Marco. The fire was so close to homes and businesses, which also made it a cause for concern.
In addition to the video footage, investigators from the city of San Marco and the Florida Forest Service found evidence of wrongdoing at the scene.
The cellphone video shows the illegal burning happening on the back side of Corri’s Auto Sales and Repair.
Fire experts said it appeared to be a very dangerous situation because of the proximity of the fire to other businesses and homes, and the fact that it was a dry and windy day.
“Even in a very urbanized area, there’s still vegetation between the houses and there’s still the possibility of fire embers floating away from the original burn pile and landing on woods nearby and damaging other structures,” said Annaleasa Winter, a spokeswoman for the Florida Forest Service.
On close examination, the fire appeared to have been ignited close to a parked vehicle.
“Easily, an ember could have blown out of that pile and into the interior of one of those vehicles and ignited one of those,” Winter said. “That’s an additional concentrated heat source that’s threatening the structures nearby.”
In Duval County, people are not allowed to burn yard debris. It’s possible to receive authorization from the city to do land-clearing burning for development and construction purposes, but investigators said this was not the case at Corri’s Auto Sales and Repair.
“You’re not allowed to do this and certainly not allowed to burn any treated wood, chemicals, plastic containers, or household garbage or anything like that,” Winter said.
Another safety concern was the burning of chemically treated wood.
“Clean, dry wood is the optimal thing to burn,” Winter said. “It doesn’t have dirt in it. It’s been sifted out and allowed to dry, so it will minimize the smoke emissions. Whereas, if you have a chemical-treated wood, it’s going to be denser and contain more moisture, so it produces more smoke and a toxic smoke.”
Nearly a quarter of wildfires in the Jacksonville area are caused by illegal trash burning, the Florida Forest Service said.
Even when officials grant someone a burn permit, that person can’t burn anything too close to another home
In Jacksonville, if a person is clearing land, they can’t burn within 300 feet of an occupied dwelling. If a person is not clearing land, they have to stay 1,000 feet away.