The Sitka Fire Department responded to the same controlled burn at a residence over the weekend — twice.
Fire Chief Brian McLaughlin said the department received a call about an unattended fire early Sunday morning, but when the engine and two firefighters arrived on scene, they found the fire was attended.
“There was some stuff in the individual’s fire pit that was probably really not healthy to be burning,” he said. “So we asked them to stop burning that. They appeared to have done so initially, and then later on in the afternoon, we got a call back for the same house that they were burning some stuff they shouldn’t be [and it was] producing black smoke, which can produce hazardous conditions in the air.”
McLaughlin said the department put the fire out and asked the resident to not burn those things in the future.
“Anything that’s basically not wood, we shouldn’t be burning. It’s not actually legal within the city,” he said. “So rubber material, fiberglass material, plastics, that kind of stuff. We don’t want to see anyone burning because it produces toxic black smoke.”
McLaughlin reminded Sitkans to always call the fire department to get a permit before starting a controlled burn, and to only burn untreated wood. He said this will help keep both people and the environment healthy.
