Bonfires, Campfires, Can Lead to Criminal Charges :: Tennessee Criminal Lawyer Blog

For many Tennesseans, this time of year means football, barbecuing, and just generally taking advantage of the pleasant fall weather. Many outdoor activities common to the fall season involve the use of fire such as grilling, bonfires, and campfires. Although these activities are completely harmless for the most part when conducted in a responsible manner, failure to exercise due caution when starting or maintaining a fire can lead to criminal charges in Tennessee, even if the spreading of the fire was completely accidental.

T.C.A. section 39-14-304 provides that anyone who:

recklessly starts a fire on the land, building, structure or personal property of another; or

recklessly allows a fire built on their own property to escape and burn the property of another;or

recklessly starts a fire in violation of a burning ban as provided in T.C.A. section 39-14-306(b) is guilty of the misdemeanor of Reckless Burning.

T.C.A. section 39-14-306(b) prohibits the starting of an open-air fire in violation of a ban on such fires issued by the Commissioner of Agriculture pursuant to extreme fire hazard conditions in some area or all of the state. Violation of either of these sections is a Class A misdemeanor, punishable by eleven months and twenty-nine days in jail and a fine not to exceed $2,500.

The key to avoiding these charges is simply to start and maintain fires associated with any outdoor activities in a responsible manner. The standard for criminal charges is recklessness in these situations, which T.C.A. section 39-11-302 has defined as meaning that the offender “acts recklessly with respect to circumstances surrounding the conduct or the result of the conduct when the person is aware of but consciously disregards a substantial and unjustifiable risk that the circumstances exist or the result will occur.” Thus, since it is universally known that fires can damage real and personal property, recklessly allowing them to spread or not taking reasonable steps to prevent them from spreading can lead to criminal charges.