Council adopts ordinance consolidating open-burning rules; burn barrels prohibited

Council adopted Ordinance 5.46, amending the Sisters Municipal Code to remove conflicting open-burning provisions and to consolidate regulations under chapter 8.110. Jacob Smith, the city code-enforcement officer, summarized the key changes introduced on May 13 and discussed edits made during continued deliberations.

"This ordinance was first introduced on 05/13/2026... the ordinance addresses two portions of the burning or the fire code of the city of Sisters," Jacob Smith said, describing the removal of a conflicting open-burning section, the prohibition on burn barrels, a newly defined recreational-fire exception (with size and location standards), and the addition of authority for the fire district to restrict all fires during Red Flag warnings.

Councilors clarified a distance requirement in the recreational‑fire definition to align with the fire district (25 feet from structures rather than 20 feet) and treated that as a scrivener's error to be corrected. After a motion to read the ordinance by title only and a roll-call vote, the ordinance was approved with all members voting aye.

The ordinance consolidates the city’s open-burning rules, clarifies recreational-fire conditions, and gives the fire district clear authority to restrict fires under high-risk conditions.