Vashon’s fire commissioners voted recently to update the department’s illegal burn policy, making it possible for the district to seek reimbursement for the costs incurred responding to illegal burn calls.

Following the meeting, Vashon Island Fire & Rescue Chief Hank Lipe said that illegal burning is typically not a problem on the island, but sometimes there are repeat offenders, and the new policy is intended for them.

“This is not for the occasional person. This is for problematic burn cases,” he said. “We want to make sure we have all the tools in place to manage whatever we encounter.”

According to the new policy, in a repeat situation, VIFR will send an incident report and an invoice for the cost of the response to the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency (PSCAA), which, in turn, would pay the invoice to VIFR and then bill orfine the offender.

PSCAA Communications Specialist Della Kostelnik Juarez said fire departments who have memorandums of understanding with the agency have always had the option of charging the cost of a response to an illegal burn back to theindividual responsible. Fines for illegal fires typically start at $2,000 plus the cost to reimburse the fire department for their response efforts, she said.

VIFR’s burn permits, available online, spell out the parameters of legal burning.

For more information, see vifr.org and pscleanair.org.