BRUNSWICK COUNTY — A petition asking the state legislature to step in and ban land-clearing burns has collected nearly 2,000 signatures, mostly from the Cape Fear area, since it was created last month.
READ MORE: Why is Cape Fear on fire?
Nicholas Newell, a 2021 Leland Town Council candidate and local real estate broker, created the petition and told Port City Daily he does not oppose rapid development in the area, but he believes clearing land by burning debris is an outdated method that affects the health of people and the environment.
“This isn’t the 1950s,” Newell said, pointing to alternatives like mulching and air curtain burners as low-impact methods of removing debris. Air curtain burners are devices that incinerate vegetation loaded into them and produce less smoke as well as particles.
Newell also supports designing projects to preserve more existing trees on sites rather than clear-cutting an entire construction area.
“At the end of the day it all comes down to money,” Newell said.
Brunswick County at large has become a major growth hub in the state and is one of the fastest-growing counties in the country. Leland, the county’s largest town, has emerged as Wilmington’s dominant suburb, minting annexation deals to wrap large new developments into its city limits as it tries to meet the surging demand for housing. The U.S. Census Bureau estimates the town has grown from about 23,000 recorded in the 2020 census to more than 30,500 by 2023.
As the county grows, and Leland in particular becomes a major population center, it has been periodically inundated with smoke haze from land-clearing burns. Newell pointed to the litany of projects on Mallory Creek as examples. The photo at the top of the petition webpage shows large burn piles at Leland’s new Del Webb site.
Wood smoke generates fine particulate matter which, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, can aggravate asthma, decrease lung function, cause heart attacks, arrhythmia, and kill people with heart or lung disease. Particle pollution can also harm soil and waterways by making them more acidic and affecting their nutrients.
Newell said he wants to push local leaders to speak to state officials, because they hold more sway.
“If you have a lot of your constituents who are concerned about something, which obviously they are, I think it’s in part your job to advocate on our behalf at a state level,” Newell said.
State law grants broad freedom for developers to burn vegetation for clearing purposes if they meet a few requirements and are not in a protected fire hazard area. It is always illegal to burn trash or construction refuse. Per the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s webpage on the issue “If it doesn’t grow, don’t burn it.”
Clearing burns have to be at least 500 feet from occupied buildings and “at least 250 feet from any public road when prevailing winds are blowing towards the road,” according to NCDEQ’s burning rule. The rule also restricts setting fires if the EPA’s air quality index is worse than “moderate.”
Brunswick County also falls in a hazard area, which requires property owners to obtain a special permit from state forest rangers if they plan to clear more than five acres. Hazard areas have slightly stricter rules on when fires can be set, and rangers can deny a permit if weather conditions are hazardous.
Local governments can place restrictions on fires piecemeal. WIlmington has a blanket ban on open burns in city limits common among densely-populated cities in North Carolina. Brunswick County occasionally puts temporary burn bans in place, most recently on Thursday, when it experiences a high fire index rating. Leland Town Council asked staff to explore regulations in 2023, but the town has been quiet on the issue since. The town’s website notes open burns are legal, but it “is not recommended because of your potential liability.”
There are cases where municipalities place greater restrictions on clearing burns without barring it entirely. The Town of Cary requires piles to be placed at least 1,000 feet from homes in “predominantly residential areas,” The town also prohibits burning if prevailing winds are blowing toward any population center, including outside of Cary, and tightens the hours fires can be started.
PCD reached out to Brunswick County’s state elected officials — repsresentstives Frank Iler and Charles Miller, as well as state Sen. Bill Rabon — for comment on the petition. Only Iler responded by press.
He said he had not heard about the petition, but does receive daily complaints about smoke in parts of the county “depending on which way the wind’s blowing.” Iler noted the clearing burns are temporary and developers spend more time building than clearing. He said he would be open to hearing a solution.
“I’m not an expert on burn permits at this point,” Iler said. “I really don’t want to be, but it looks like I’m going to have to do more research myself.”
He said a solution would be more complicated than simply stopping burns. He questioned where the material would go if an owner is not allowed to burn it and noted that sometimes a developer’s hands are tied on designing to save trees because a site has to be graded for stormwater management. He also noted new regulation could conflict with property rights if a developer purchases a piece of land expecting to clear it with one set of rules and then has another applied.
Newell said the only state official who has reached out to him so far is New Hanover County Rep. Deb Butler and he hopes she follows through on trying to address the issue. Even if the petition does not go anywhere soon, he believes it was worth the effort.
“I think that you’re at a point where the General Assembly is going to start aging out,” Newell said. “Look at some of our local representatives and the ages that they are. They are going to quickly decide to retire from this, step away or whatever, and they will be replaced by someone. If someone is smart they will listen.”
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