Posted on 09/07/2017 2:44:03 PM PDT by christie
I live out in the country on 10 acres (Califonria). We are allowed to burn certain times of the year (with permit). It is not burn season. And it's been over 100 degrees for weeks. No way I've been burning anything. But this morning I got a visit from the Air Quality Management District (in an unmarked truck). He said he received a report that I had been burning on the property. No specifics of when this incident occurred. He left me his card. Just now he called back and said he needed to make an appointment to inspect the back of my property. What should my response be? I think I should receive written notice. How do I know that there was even a complaint received? Has he interviewed any of my back neighbors to make sure it wasn't them, although I'm usually home and I have not seen or smelled any fires (I keep a close eye on this). The air quality has been bad for the last week because of all the fires up north (a hundred or two miles away). Does anyone know what my rights are? I don't like county snooping around.
Tell him to get a warrant
He cannot inspect unless you give him permission, or the law tells you he can inspect.
If you make an appointment with him, you have invited him onto your property. Tell him that he needs to contact your attorney to schedule any on-site inspections.
Tell him to get a warrant.
I would tell them you would be happy to show them around the property, once they have provided you with a search warrant.
They are fishing for $$$.
Concur.
Tell him to get a warrant or go pound sand.
Then be sure to get some video cameras set up to record law enforcement coming out to threaten and intimidate you. Be sure to stream it to the web over something like Periscope so they can’t kill you and just seize the video.
Oh, and call an attorney.
Now.
Yeah, I figured it was the same as with any other request to enter property. They have no rights. Can’t wait until I get up a front gate and keep these suckers out. I had code compliance here once but they’d sent a letter first.
Please let us know how this turns out. THANKS and GOOD LUCK!
Correct. He will also note what you have etc, for redistribution to the gimmedats.
I would inspect every square foot of your property first. To make sure no one else has done any unauthorized burning on your property.
I don’t think he needs a warrant. These little agencies have powers that are outside the constitution. I know what everyone here will say, but like the EPA, OSHA, Fish and Wildlife etc, they can do inspections without notification and requests information at will. If you are too much of a butt head, good luck getting anymore permits for anything.
If someone ratted on you, they can do it anonymously. I have learned the best thing to do when someone cuts you off is to turn them in to Air Quality. There is an anonymous line for you to turn in gross polluters. Tell them the car was smoking like it was burning soft coal and they will have to get their vehicle smogged and will have to pay for it.
One of your neighbors likely is messing with you. What kind of idiot calls Air Quality when there is an illegal fire in CA (which stand for Crazy America) this time of year? You call the fire department. Because they called AQ it makes me suspect someone is messing with you.
You might call the fire department and see if there have been any fires reported.
Also, you may consider ignoring the note, pretending you never got it. How was it left for you? If he left it in your mail box, that is actually a federal offense. Only the postal service can use that box. If he just tacked it to your door, it must have blown away. I sincerely doubt this guy will follow up, and if he does, play stupid, you never got a notice.
Again, I think it is a neighbor messing with you. Play nice, being a grouch won’t get you anywhere. Be super polite when you say no.
If he says he doesn’t need a warrant, he should be able to cite code stating that. If you are polite, he will be polite while you look it up or he can pool it up with his system. In fact, he should have a government publication outlining what he may and may not do.
If he calls the sheriff, and the sheriff says he can come on, refuse because he does need a warrant. If they force their way on, I would not stop them but after refusing to consent, anything they find should be tossed out of court unless it is that kangaroo Air Quality management court.
Tell him to get a warrant.
That said, picking a fight with petty bureaucrats can make your life miserableness. Go slow. Go wise.
Contact these guys (or a similar firm) https://www.pacificlegal.org/
Get some game cameras or something similar set up pronto. those mortarforkers are likely to set you up (especially in californistan)
Call a lawyer and get some professional advice. It’s too important to rely on anonymous internet experts. Maybe there’s a FReeper who’s a Cali lawyer who could help.
There has been nothing in writing. Just an inspector showing up saying there was a complaint. Then he called and left a message saying he wants to do an inspection on the back. I called him back requesting something in writing giving me specifics on the complaint. Now it sounds like someone said it looked like there were materials that had burned sometime in the past which were not compliant. Last time we burned was ten months ago. And it was burned to the ground. Have no idea what they are talking about.
First .... GO AND INSPECT YOUR PROPERTY!!!!
You’re going to let this clown on your property one way or another... might be nice to know what’s happening on YOUR PROPERTY before he shows up with that warrant
I just talked with my friend who did a permitted burn last year for me and he reminded me that the fire inspector came out to check the fire while it was burning and said everything was fine (no illegal materials burning). The fire department should have a record of that.
From what I can tell, they are just responding to a complaint, so I need to deal with the idiot who is making things up. The burn pile is near a public access canal road, so it could have been anyone taking a walk. I doubt it was an immediate neighbor.
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