No more leaf burning as state rules change


The Shelter Island Police Department announced last week that new regulations regarding open burning have been put into effect by the state Department of Environmental Conservation. 


Police Chief Jim Read told the Reporter that burning leaves is now banned, as well as the burning of household paper and trash in burn barrels or in piles. The new DEC regs have also restricted the size of tree limbs that can be burned as brush to limbs that measure less than 6 inches in diameter and 8 feet in length. 


Some exceptions to the open burning law still remain on the books — small campfires and cooking fires, ceremonial or celebratory bonfires and the burning of clean, dry, untreated or unpainted wood.


The DEC has said that the reason for changing the regulations has to do with the dangerous compounds released in the burning of household trash. Open burning is also the single greatest cause of wildfires in the state, the DEC claims.


The board will be amending the town code, subject to a public hearing, to conform to the new regulations.