Western Australian Current Acts Western Australian Current Acts (1A) Notwithstanding
any other provision of this Act —
(a)
subject to subsection (1B) a bush fire control officer, or the local
government in whose district the land is situated may prohibit, or from time
to time postpone the lighting of a fire, where in his or its opinion the fire,
if lit, would be or become a source of danger by escaping from the land on
which it is proposed to be lit;
(b)
where a fire is burning on land and the bush fire control officer or the local
government as the case may be is of the opinion that the fire is in danger of
escaping from that land, he or it may direct that all reasonable steps be
taken by the owner or occupier of the land to extinguish the fire or to
prevent the fire from spreading.
(1B) Where it is
proposed to light a fire within 3 km of a boundary of forest land, an
authorised CALM Act officer may exercise the powers conferred by the last
preceding paragraph to the exclusion of the exercise of those powers by a bush
fire control officer or the local government but if an authorised CALM Act
officer fails to exercise the powers a bush fire control officer or local
government may exercise those powers.
(2) A person who
lights a fire contrary to the provisions of this section or who fails to carry
out any direction given to him pursuant to this section is guilty of an
offence.
Penalty: $10 000.
(3) If, as a result of
the exercise of any power conferred by subsection (1A) or (1B), a person, who
has paid a fee to a local government for a permit to light a fire, is
precluded from doing so in such circumstances that the permit is of no use to
him the local government shall, on being requested to do so, refund the fee to
him.
[Section 46 amended: No. 11 of 1963 s. 21; No. 113
of 1965 s. 8(1); No. 94 of 1972 s. 4 (as amended: No. 83 of 1973 s. 3); No. 65
of 1977 s. 48; No. 8 of 1987 s. 8; No. 78 of 1995 s. 147; No. 14 of 1996 s. 4;
No. 38 of 2002 s. 39 and 40(1); No. 19 of 2010 s. 52(4).]