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Huntington Township adopts fire‑safety ordinance after public hearing on agricultural exemption and notification
Summary
After extended public comment about agricultural‑burning exemptions and homeowner notification, Huntington Township supervisors adopted a revised fire‑safety ordinance that defines bans and penalties and exempts certain agricultural burns under section 7.5.
HUNTINGTON TWP. — The Huntington Township Board of Supervisors voted to adopt a revised fire‑safety ordinance after a public hearing in which residents pressed the board about an agricultural‑burning exemption, fines and how residents will be notified of burn bans.
Chair (unnamed) opened the hearing by noting the ordinance had been before the board and planning commission in prior months and invited public comment. Resident Marie DeGege criticized the draft’s structure and wording, asking why the changes are framed as an amendment to "chapter 7" and asking for a copy of the present ordinance. She also objected to an exemption for agricultural burning in section 7.5, saying it would create a “two‑class” system that favors farmers and read aloud portions of financial‑disclosure listings for several local officials to underline her conflict‑of‑interest concerns.
"Section 7.5… places the non‑agricultural residential property owners in a second class status," DeGege said during the hearing. She also asked who would be responsible for notification when a burn ban is imposed, noting that newspaper notices alone did not reach many residents.
Board members rejected the conflict allegation. The board pointed to the Pennsylvania Right to Farm Act and cautioned that municipal restrictions on normal farming practices risk being overturned by state authorities. "If we put something in here trying to restrict agriculture, we'll go through the same process" of potential legal challenge, one supervisor said. The board also said the magistrate would set specific monetary penalties within the ordinance’s range.
Key provisions discussed included: section 7.3 (prohibiting fires on public property except when authorized for parks or appliances for food preparation), section 7.4 (common‑sense restrictions for private property burns), section 7.5 (exemption for agricultural burns such as orchard‑tree burning), section 7.6 (scope of a burn ban, including examples of restricted items), and section 7.7 (penalties, described in the draft as "up to a thousand dollars").
The board said it intends to notify the public of burn bans by posting notices on township signs and the township website and by other public postings as practicable, while noting it cannot individually phone every household.
After the hearing, Speaker 7 moved to adopt the ordinance and Speaker 10 seconded; the board conducted a voice vote and Chair declared the motion carried. The board did not record a roll‑call tally in the meeting minutes; the decision was made by voice vote at the meeting.
The ordinance text as adopted continues to include the agricultural exemption in 7.5 and the maximum fine language in 7.7. The board said its stated goal is to gain authority to address unsafe smoldering burns and to protect residents during drought conditions. The township clerk and solicitor will finalize posting details and the ordinance will be filed according to township procedure.
The planning commission and board previously reviewed the draft and returned it with changes; the board indicated it acted to give local officials tools to respond to unsafe burns while acknowledging legal limits imposed by state statute.
What's next: the board approved the ordinance at the meeting and will publish the final ordinance text and any procedures for announcing burn bans on its usual public channels.
