Can the fire department come do a burn on my property?

In short No but here is why. For an accredited fire department to light a fire it must be done in an incredibly controlled environment with a redundant means of control and is usually only done in a training environment. First the fuel to be burned must be evaluated to see if it meets the safety standards of the NFPA regulations regarding live burns (in essence only wood, paper or natural fuel can be used in most live burns), a live burn instructor must be present, as well as a safety officer and an ignition officer and another department or task force from the same department must be on standby for the burn should additional resources be needed. On top of that it is industry best practice to have an EMS crew on standby for rehab and evaluation standards to be met. As you can see this is a lot of resources to bring to bear and there is a very real cost associated with doing all this and is paid every time a department does a live training burn which is why they are such a rare and treasured opportunity.

I have an old home that I want to demolish, can the fire department come burn it for me?

For many of the same reasons as the question above (for the most part) no. Some additional reasons are a home must first be inspected by a DEQ inspector to verify there is no lead, asbestos and other harmful substances that may be made, released and spread by a live burn. Once that inspection is made a permit is granted by DEQ for a certain time frame. While it can be done it is a very rare occasion that the party that owns the house is willing to pay for the inspection, the work to be done to make the property safe to burn and then wait for a time frame for all the other requirements of a live burn to come together for it to be done in a safe manner in accordance with health and safety regulations.

Does the Fire Department bill me?

For the vast majority of calls we respond to no. It is very rare for our department to bill the property owner for a fire with the following rare circumstances.

• Burning during a County Enforced burn ban

• A fire was intentionally lit that requires a prolonged response usually more than 12 hours to extinguish or requires the use of expensive expendable items such as class B foam or a Hazmat response.

• Several responses to the same address for a recurrent fire that the property owner has been previously advised against.

  Ultimately the Fire Department has a duty to act to protect life, property and ensure safety of all inside our fire district and abuse of this service may in rare occasions be accompanied by a bill. The WVFD will NEVER bill the patient for a medical response.

  What happens if I burn during a burn ban?

  Firstly we will show up and put out the fire, regardless if you are tending to it and have it under control. Once the Pottawatomie County Commissioners vote to declare a burn ban we will extinguish any fire within our fire district that does not have a permit from the County during the bans stated time frame with the exceptions of : safety flares at oil well or processing sites, enclosed grills or cooktops, interior fireplaces. Secondly you may be subject to citation from the Pottawatomie County Sheriff’s office and may receive a bill from the responding fire department.

  What is a WAR day?

  WAR is an acronym that stands for Wildland Automatic Response and it refers to WAR protocol that when enacted in the dispatch center it changes the response posture to any outside fire in the county. Typically a department responds only to calls within its district unless requested by other agencies through mutual aid or if another agency fails to respond to a request for service. However when WAR protocol is enacted the next two closest departments are dispatched to any outside fire automatically.

  What is the WVFD fire District and am I inside it?

  The WVFD fire district has 4 borders

• The southern border is easy, its the Canadian River.

• The Western border is pottawatomie county line or Pottawatomie county Rd.

• The Eastern border is Coker Rd.

• The Northern border is a little more difficult as it is Turkey hill Rd. That rd is very broken up but if you were to draw a straight line along its broken path, that is our northern border.

• We cover an 85 Sq mile area and approximately 2,000 citizens in our fire protection district.