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Council adopts ordinance consolidating open-burning rules; burn barrels prohibited
Summary
The council unanimously adopted Ordinance 5.46 to remove conflicting open-burning provisions, consolidate rules under chapter 8.110, prohibit burn barrels, define recreational fires, and allow the fire district to restrict fires during Red Flag conditions.
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.
