This law is about controlled burns on land. When someone purposely sets a controlled fire on their land (called a prescribed burn) to manage plants or wildlife, they are not responsible if the fire or smoke causes damage to others — as long as they were not careless. A certified manager following a written burn plan also gets this same protection. However, this protection does NOT apply if the fire or smoke damages property owned by electric utilities, electric cooperatives, or railroads.
537.354. act — definitions — , when — inapplicability, when. — 1. This section shall be known and may be cited as the "Prescribed Burning Act".
2. As used in this section, the following terms mean:
(1) "", any person who has permission from a landowner to participate in a prescribed burning on the landowner's property;
(2) "", a person who successfully completes a prescribed burn program approved by the Missouri of ;
(3) "", a written plan that is in a format approved by the Missouri department of conservation establishing the conditions and methods to perform a prescribed burning;
(4) "Prescribed burning", the planned and controlled of fire to existing vegetative fuels in to accomplish one or more specific land management objectives including, but not limited to, vegetative fuel reduction, treatments, habitat improvement, and management of grassland and other plant communities.
3. No owner of land or agent of an owner of land shall be for damage, injury, or loss caused by a prescribed burning or the resulting smoke of a prescribed burning unless the owner of land or agent of an owner of land is proven to be .
4. No certified prescribed burn manager shall be liable for damage, injury, or loss caused by a prescribed burning or the resulting smoke of a prescribed burning conducted under a prescribed burn plan unless the certified prescribed burn manager is proven to be negligent.
5. The of s 3 and 4 of this section shall not apply to any damage, injury, or loss caused by a prescribed burning or the resulting smoke from a prescribed burning to any of the following:
(1) Property, lands, rights-of-way, or easements owned by a or ;
(2) Property, lands, rights-of-way, or easements owned by a organized or operating under the provisions of chapter 394, or any organized on a nonprofit or basis as described in subsection 1 of section 394.200, or any operating under a cooperative business plan as described in subsection 2 of section 393.110; or
(3) Property, lands, rights-of-way, or easements or to lands controlled by any railroad.
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Source & history notes
(L. 2021 H.B. 369)
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Legal information, not legal advice. Always confirm with the official source at revisor.mo.gov.