By Shelby Stewart
Staff Writer
Recently, residents of Ortonville and Brandon Township have voiced their concerns with burning in the village and township.
“Some of the things you can’t burn, rubber, plastics, shingles, tires, treated lumber, painted wood, rail road ties, wet leaves, furniture, cardboard, garbage, manufactured building products, wet green grass, pretty much anything that causes black smoke or an offensive odor,” said Brandon Fire Chief Dave Kwapis.
Kwapis reminded the public of the rules on the burn permits during the village council meeting on July 23. Burn permits are only good until the end of the year, and must be reapplied for yearly. They can be obtained in person at the fire department or online on the Brandon Township website.
“So, burning is allowed in the village, as well as in the township,” said Kwapis.

“The fire must be 50 feet away from any structure, reduce that to 25 feet if the fire is smaller than 3 foot in diameter, the only thing that you are allowed to burn is dry, seasoned wood. If you’re going to burn leaves, you’re supposed to do that on the circled days on the back of your permit.”
He also said that if someone suspects that a resident is burning something they shouldn’t be, they can call the fire department and they will investigate it.
“If any of that is occurring then you need to file a complaint with the fire department, and we will inspect that, if we can find where it’s coming from,” he said. “Now, we do know a couple that have been burning trash, and unfortunately we can never seem to specifically locate where it’s at. And that’s where we run into problems sometimes. So if you know where it’s going on, let us know, we’ll take care of it.”
Burning should also not occur on windy days or days that are very dry.