Section 537.354

Title XXXVI STATUTORY ACTIONS AND TORTS

Chapter 537

Effective - 28 Aug 2021   

  537.354.  Prescribed burning act — definitions — immunity from liability, 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)  "Agent of an owner of land", any person who has permission from a landowner to participate in a prescribed burning on the landowner's property;

  (2)  "Certified prescribed burn manager", a person who successfully completes a prescribed burn certification program approved by the Missouri department of conservation;

  (3)  "Prescribed burn plan", 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 application of fire to existing vegetative fuels in order to accomplish one or more specific land management objectives including, but not limited to, vegetative fuel reduction, silvicultural treatments, wildlife habitat improvement, and management of grassland and other plant communities.

  3.  No owner of land or agent of an owner of land shall be liable 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 negligent.

  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 provisions of subsections 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 public utility or municipally owned utility;

  (2)  Property, lands, rights-of-way, or easements owned by a rural electric cooperative organized or operating under the provisions of chapter 394, or any corporation organized on a nonprofit or cooperative basis as described in subsection 1 of section 394.200, or any electrical corporation operating under a cooperative business plan as described in subsection 2 of section 393.110; or

  (3)  Property, lands, rights-of-way, or easements appurtenant or incidental to lands controlled by any railroad.

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(L. 2021 H.B. 369)