[HISTORY: Adopted by the Village Board of the Village of Salem Lakes at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General Provisions, Art. II). Amendments noted where applicable.]
GENERAL REFERENCES
Fire/Rescue Department — See Ch. 50.
Building construction — See Ch. 200.
Explosives — See Ch. 265.
Nuisances — See Ch. 381.
Property maintenance — See Ch. 410.
Burning of solid waste — See Ch. 447, Art. IV.
A. 
Authority. This section is adopted pursuant to authority granted by § 61.34, Wis. Stats.
B. 
Purpose. The purpose of this section is to adopt a Fire Code and to repeal all Village ordinances or provisions thereof which are contrary to the provisions of the code.
C. 
Adoption of code. NFPA 1, Fire Code, 2012, subject to the modifications specified in Chapter SPS 314 of the Wisconsin Administrative Code, as amended from time to time, is hereby adopted and incorporated herein by reference.
D. 
Repeal. All Village ordinances or provisions thereof which are contrary to the provisions of NFPA 1, Fire Code, 2012, subject to the modifications specified in Chapter SPS 314 of the Wisconsin Administrative Code as adopted by this section, are hereby repealed.
Each and every inhabitant of the Village shall aid in extinguishing any fire, and, while rendering such aid, each such inhabitant shall be subject to the command of the Fire Chief or such person as may be acting as such.
Fire lanes shall be kept clear at all times, and no one shall park any vehicle or cause any obstruction to be placed upon such fire lanes. The fire lanes shall be established by the Board, by resolution, after conference with the Superintendent of Public Works and Fire Chief.
No owner or occupant of any building or any person or corporation engaged, either as a contractor, workman or in any other capacity, in any work upon any building shall maintain a fire in any building within the Village in a stove, salamander or other similar contrivance without having some person at all times present in such building to attend such fire, unless a fireproof substance is at all times maintained immediately under the same, and unless the same is connected with the outside of the building by means of a noncombustible pipe or chimney in such manner that all of the smoke and gases arising from such fire are conducted directly to the outside of such building.
A. 
No person, firm, organization or corporation shall start, maintain, sponsor, or allow to burn any uncontained fire, including bonfires, on any property owned, occupied or controlled by such person, firm, organization or corporation without first securing a written permit from the Fire Chief or authorized Fire/Rescue Department member; provided, however, that the above provisions shall not apply to fires where less than one cubic yard of combustible yard waste is being burned. This exemption pertains only to the requirement of obtaining a permit. All other provisions of this section shall pertain with respect to all fires. As used herein, the term "yard waste" shall be limited to combustible vegetation, such as dried leaves, twigs and small branches. It shall not include any recyclable paper or cardboard or any plastic products, table waste, household trash or garbage in general.
B. 
The use of burn barrels or similar combustion containers is prohibited.
C. 
For purposes of this section, the term "person" includes any natural person, corporation, partnership or other entity.
D. 
An owner or occupant of property within the Village of Salem Lakes is in violation of this section if he or she suffers or allows another to start or maintain an uncontained fire, as defined herein, on property owned or occupied by him or her, or if said owner or occupant fails to take reasonable steps to immediately extinguish such a fire, regardless of its origin. An "uncontained fire" shall be deemed to be any fire burning in the open.
E. 
Issuance of permits and the starting of fires exempt from permit requirements shall be conditioned upon compliance with the following rules and conditions:
(1) 
No permit shall be issued for burning, nor exempt fire started, on a day when weather conditions shall be such as to constitute a dangerous condition leading to the spread of fire.
(2) 
No permit shall be issued for a period greater than 12 hours.
(3) 
No permit shall be issued for burning of any kind, nor any exempt fire started, before sunrise and after sunset without the express permission of the Fire/Rescue Department.
(4) 
No permit shall ever be issued for the burning of, nor shall any person, owner or occupant of any land suffer to be burned within the Village of Salem Lakes, any tires, roofing materials, construction site waste, building materials of any type, packaging materials, plastics or urethane garbage, oily rags, petroleum products, or any other substances which produce heavy smoke, fumes and/or offensive odors when ignited.
F. 
Any person who shall start a fire and any owner or occupant of any land who shall suffer a fire to be started on such land shall remain in continuous attendance at such fire until it is fully extinguished.
G. 
It shall be unlawful for any person, firm, organization or corporation to burn any wood, grass, leaves, rubbish or other combustible materials on the surface of any public street in the Village of Salem Lakes or to burn such materials within 25 feet of a neighboring building in the Village of Salem Lakes. This shall not apply to outdoor charcoal or gas grills.
[1]
Editor's Note: See also Ch. 200, Building Construction, § 200-24, Outdoor wood-fired furnaces.
Except where another penalty is provided, any person found in violation of any provision of this chapter shall be subject to a penalty as provided in § 1-4 of this Code.
A. 
In order to promote the safety and general welfare of persons and property within the Village, the Village Board does hereby declare it to be against public health and safety for any person owning and/or occupying any land in the Village to allow leaves, dead grass, debris or other combustible materials to accumulate on such land to the extent that the same will constitute a fire hazard or allow the spreading of fire.
B. 
Any code enforcement officer, the Village Building Inspector or the Fire Chief may, but shall not be required to, send a notice to the owner or occupant of such land to immediately eliminate an existing fire hazard if the same should come to his attention.
C. 
The owner and/or occupant of land within the Village shall have the duty of keeping fire hazards from being created on such land and to maintain such land in such condition as to prevent the starting or spreading of fires.
D. 
A fire hazard shall be deemed to exist when combustible materials, including, but not limited to, leaves; dry grass; weeds; wood (whether processed by some mechanical device or accumulating through natural means), dead trees, shrubs, bushes and the like; paper; flammable liquids; and any and all other flammable substances, are allowed to accumulate in such amount and manner as to allow a fire to develop by any willful act or natural means in other than a controlled manner. Residential, commercial, agricultural and industrial storage and use areas under supervised control and management where combustible materials are stored in the course of the use of the premises and in keeping with good sound fire-protection practices shall not be deemed a fire hazard.
E. 
Ground-level growth.
(1) 
In the further interests of general health, safety and public welfare, the Village Board does hereby ordain that the allowing of grass, weeds and other natural, ground-level growth to grow to an excessive height creates a hazard leading to conditions constituting a fire hazard.
(2) 
Any owner and/or occupant of land located in the Village who allows grass, weeds and other natural, ground-level growth to grow to an excessive height shall be required to cut same down to a height of not more than six inches, and, in the event of the failure of such owner and/or occupant to cut such growth, the Village, by its designated representatives and/or agent, may enter upon the premises to cut such grass, weeds and ground-level growth to such height and to levy against the land on which this is done all costs incurred by the Village for the cutting required.
(3) 
In the event the owner and/or occupant is engaged in a lawful enterprise requiring such plant life to grow to an excessive height, it shall be the duty of the owner and/or occupant to so advise the Village of Salem Lakes and procure from it a letter of permission allowing such excessive growth. The issuance of a letter of permission shall in no means or manner absolve the owner and/or occupant from complying with any and all other regulations and ordinances of the Village or laws of the state.
(4) 
The provisions of this section as set forth in Subsection E(1), (2) and (3) shall not be deemed to affect the raising of agricultural crops on agricultural lands or the growing of such plant life as a part of any lawful commercial or industrial enterprise.
F. 
Without limiting the effect or application of any other provision contained herein, the Village Board and/or the Fire Chief may declare a fire emergency when, in their discretion, they determine that conditions occasioned by weather, continuous drought or the presence of highly combustible or explosive materials within the Village are such that any burning may create an unreasonable risk of fire spreading out of control or may otherwise present an unreasonable risk of harm to persons or property. Under such declaration of emergency, all outside fires of any type shall be prohibited. Upon declaring a fire emergency, the Village Board and/or Fire Chief shall take such measures as they deem best suited to communicate the state of fire emergency to the public, including, but not by way of limitation, posted notices and newspaper, television and radio announcements.
G. 
Any person violating the conditions of a state of fire emergency declared under Subsection F above shall be subject to a penalty as provided in § 1-4 of this Code for each violation.
Any structure containing more than two residential living units, or any commercial building, industrial building, or institutional or public service building constructed after August 8, 2005, or any other building designated by the Village of Salem Lakes Building Inspector or the Village of Salem Lakes Fire/Rescue Department Fire Inspector shall be required to install a Knox-Box® to enable the Fire/Rescue Department to achieve access to the structure and its individual components in the event of an emergency or fire inspection. Any existing commercial occupancy exceeding $3,000 in remodel and/or new construction shall be required to install a Knox-Box®.