SANTA PAULA : Agricultural Burn Policy Amended

The Santa Paula City Council altered a proposal Monday to limit the type of agricultural fires allowed within the city limits, preserving a farming practice that is a link with the small town’s agricultural history.

The council approved on a 4-1 vote a proposal that the city’s Fire Department continue issuing burn permits to farmers who remove or prune trees and other plants and dispose of them by burning on county-designated burn days. Councilman Alfonso Urias voted against the proposal.

The vote followed a request by Santa Paula farmer Frank Gonsalez to burn old and dead orange trees on 33 acres of leased land on the city’s southwest boundary.

Gonsalez had received a burn permit from the Ventura County Fire Department, but the permit was revoked when officials learned that the farm was in Santa Paula, said Santa Paula Fire Chief Paul Lockwood Skeels.

Gonsalez then applied to the Santa Paula Fire Department for a burn permit so that he could replace the orange orchard with cilantro fields.

Skeels told the council that the agricultural fire could be safely conducted if it is set on a morning with an easterly breeze so that any fallout of ash occurs away from the city. But Skeels questioned whether the city should issue any more permits except in cases of the final removal of an orchard.

“The time when agricultural burns should be approved within the city is rapidly drawing to a close,” Skeels said.

Instead of burning farm waste, Skeels suggested that farmers make firewood out of the pruned branches to reduce the number of burn permits to a minimum.

But Councilman John Melton opposed the wording of the proposal, saying that burn permits should be issued to farmers “only if the property remains in agricultural use.”

Mayor Margaret A. Ely said the revised policy is more supportive of agriculture.

The county Air Pollution Control District and Fire Department jointly determine which days to allow agricultural fires. Allen Danzig, who heads enforcement for the air pollution district, said most call complaints about agricultural fires stem from the odors.