Virginia Code 10.1-1150.5: Liability.
A. Any prescribed burning conducted in compliance with the requirements of this article, state air pollution control laws, and any rules adopted by the Virginia Department of Forestry shall be in the public interest and shall not constitute a nuisance.
Terms Used In Virginia Code 10.1-1150.5
- Prescribed burning: means the controlled application of fire or wildland fuels in either the natural or modified state, under specified environmental conditions, which allows a fire to be confined to a predetermined area and produces the fire behavior and fire characteristics necessary to attain planned fire treatment and ecological, silvicultural, and wildlife management objectives. See Virginia Code 10.1-1150.1
- State: when applied to a part of the United States, includes any of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the United States Virgin Islands. See Virginia Code 1-245
B. Any landowner or his agent who conducts a prescribed burn in compliance with the requirements of this article, state air pollution control laws, and any rules adopted by the Virginia Department of Forestry shall not be liable for any damage or injury caused by or resulting from smoke.
C. Subsections A and B of this section shall not apply whenever a nuisance or damage results from the negligent or improper conduct of the prescribed burn or when the prescribed burn elements described in § 10.1-1150.4 have not been complied with.
1998, c. 156.