No person, firm or corporation shall use or operate on land subject to fire by any cause, a sawmill, a power shovel, or an engine or machine capable of throwing sparks, unless the equipment is provided with an approved spark arrester. Escape of fire from such equipment shall be prima facie evidence that such appliance was not maintained properly in compliance with this section.
Any person, firm or corporation owning any land and knowing of inflammable waste disposal on said land, and any person, firm or corporation using any land for the purpose of inflammable waste disposal, shall remove annually all grass, brush, debris and other inflammable material adjacent to such disposal areas to provide adequate protection to prevent the escape of fire to adjacent lands. Escape of fire from any such disposal area shall be prima facie evidence that this section had not been complied with.
Any person, firm or corporation owning or leasing any mineral interests and knowing of underground coal being on fire under that land shall between the first of November and the thirty-first of December of each year clear away all inflammable material within forty feet of any mine break or other opening through which the fire could escape to the surface. Any person, firm or corporation owning any underground mineral interests shall use all practical means to confine, extinguish or suppress any such fire in such underground minerals.
Any person, firm or corporation violating any provision of this section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.
Structure West Virginia Code
Article 3. Forests and Wildlife Areas
§20-3-3. Establishment of Wildlife Areas; Leasing Lands Therefor
§20-3-3a. Cabwaylingo Pilot Project
§20-3-5a. Prescribed Fire Program
§20-3-7. Starting Fire on Lands of Another; Penalties
§20-3-8. Duty of Railroad Company to Protect Against Fires
§20-3-9. Right of Railroad Company to Clear Land Adjacent to Right-of-Way
§20-3-12. Timberland and Forest Land Defined
§20-3-13. Director Authorized to Secure Federal Cooperation; Annual Appropriation
§20-3-14. Financial Assistance From Owners of Forest Lands; Expenditures by Director
§20-3-15. Owner Not Relieved From Civil Liability for Damage From Fire
§20-3-16. Prima Facie Evidence of Negligence in Certain Actions for Injury Due to Fires
§20-3-17. Disposition of Proceeds of National Forests
§20-3-17a. Same -- Counties Embracing Spruce Knob-Seneca Rocks National Recreation Area
§20-3-18. Disposition of Flood Control, Navigation and Allied Funds From the Federal Government
§20-3-20. Governor's Authority to Execute
§20-3-21. When and How Compact Becomes Operative
§20-3-22. Compact Administration; Advisory Committee
§20-3-23. Compact Committee Powers and Duties; Cooperation Therewith
§20-3-24. Other Powers of State Forester Supplementary
§20-3-25. Governor's Authority to Execute
§20-3-26. When and How Compact Becomes Operative
§20-3-27. Compact Administration
§20-3-28. Compact Committee Powers and Duties; Cooperation Therewith