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Commissioners adopt revised fire code to let fire chief recommend local burn bans
Summary
The board adopted an update to the county's fire-prevention code giving the fire chief authority to recommend local burn bans to the county administrator for faster implementation, bringing Hernando County into alignment with other Florida counties.
Hernando County commissioners voted unanimously March 11 to adopt updates to Chapter 12 of the Hernando County Code on fire prevention and protection, modernizing language and giving the fire chief the ability to recommend local burn bans to the county administrator so a ban can be enacted more quickly when conditions warrant.
Fire Chief Paul Hasmeyer, who led the rewrite effort with county attorneys, said the revision also cleans up antiquated language, updates references to the National Fire Protection Association and the Florida Building Code, and clarifies the process for declaring a local burn ban so the county can react faster to high-risk weather and fire conditions. "This would essentially allow myself as a fire chief to take all the data from the Florida Fire Service, what our neighboring counties are doing... make a recommendation to the county administrator," Hasmeyer said, adding that the board would still ratify and could amend or end any ban at the next available meeting.
Commissioners praised the change as consistent with other Florida counties and said they supported enabling officials in the field to act more quickly in wildfire-prone conditions. Commissioner Ansler moved to adopt the ordinance as presented; the motion carried on a roll-call vote.
