How to Create and Manage Burning Zones in Your Fire District
This video tutorial discusses how to create and manage zones within a fire district to define areas where burning is never allowed, allowed seasonally, or always allowed. In this tutorial there is a demonstration creating a new "City Limits" zone where burning is never allowed, finding the Open Street Map relation ID for the city limits, and importing a GeoJSON file to map the city limits within the system. This allows the fire district to have an outer boundary where burning is seasonally allowed, while excluding the city limits area where burning is never permitted.
Summary - Streamline Outdoor Burning Management with Zones
Welcome to the Before You Burn system! This innovative platform helps agencies like fire districts simplify debris burn coordination. One powerful feature is the ability to define customized zones with unique burning rules.
What are zones and how do they work?
Zones allow you to map out geographical areas and specify if burning is allowed, restricted, or prohibited inside their boundaries. Like circles in a Venn diagram, zones can overlap, contain other zones, or exist independently.
When a resident enters their burn location, the system cross-checks which zones cover that area. It then automatically applies the corresponding zone rules to determine burn status. The person sees who has jurisdiction, relevant terms and conditions, and if burning is currently permitted.
Defining zones streamlines communication of complex or changing policies. Residents get real-time updates instead of relying on static resources. It also makes record-keeping easier for agencies when areas and rules evolve.
Use cases for zones:
- Designate cities or school districts as no-burn areas enclosed within a broader district where seasonal burning is allowed
- Create zones for parks, federal lands, neighborhoods - any region requiring distinct rules
- Update zone boundaries as annexations occur without redoing entire maps
- Build a central database of geographic boundaries and associated burn regulations
Creating zones is easy:
Agencies simply give each zone a name, status (allowed, restricted, prohibited), and optional map. If a map is needed, free OpenStreetMap data can be imported based on a geographic ID code. Once zones are set up, the system does the work to apply their rules.
Zones provide agencies and residents visual clarity, automated coordination, and real-time information. By linking burn status directly to locations, they take the guesswork out of burning season. Simplify outdoor burning in your community with zones on Before You Burn!