# Title 18 — Fires

## Chapter 18-08 — General Provisions

### § 18-08-01. Penalty for setting prairie fire.

Any person who sets or causes to be set on fire any woods, marsh, prairie, hay, weeds, or
any grass or stubble lands, except as hereinafter provided, is guilty of a class A misdemeanor.
### § 18-08-02. Burning grass or stubble.

A person may set any grass or stubble lands on fire at the time the person commences to
break or plow such lands if, at the time the fire is set, there is a strip at least fifty feet [15.24
meters] wide of well-plowed or burned land completely encompassing the land where the fire is
set.
### § 18-08-03. Liability when lawfully set fire is permitted to spread.

Repealed by S.L. 1975, ch. 106, § 673.
### § 18-08-04. Accidental damage from lawfully set fire - Liability.

If a fire which is lawfully set to burn grass or stubble land accidentally and without any
negligence on the part of the person setting the fire gets beyond the person's control, the
person is liable only in a civil action to the person damaged for the amount of the damage.
### § 18-08-05. Setting fire to destroy grasshoppers lawful.

Repealed by S.L. 1973, ch. 50, § 1.
### § 18-08-06. Liability for unlawfully setting fire to destroy grasshoppers - Penalty for

carelessness and negligence.
Repealed by S.L. 1973, ch. 50, § 1.
### § 18-08-07. Penalty for failure to extinguish camp or other fire.

A person who makes a camp or other fire, or causes the same to be made, and leaves such
fire without having thoroughly extinguished it, is guilty of a class B misdemeanor.
### § 18-08-08. Occupant may recover damages caused by fire.

In any action to recover damages under the provisions of this chapter, the person injured by
the fire need not allege or prove title to the real property over which the fire has spread. It is
sufficient in any such action to allege and prove that the person injured was in the occupancy or
possession of the ranch, building, improvement, fencing, timber, or other property injured and
claims the right to and occupies any such cattle range with cattle.
### § 18-08-09. Misconduct at fires - Penalty.

1. Every person who, at any unwanted fire, disobeys the lawful orders of a public officer
or firefighter, or resists or interferes with the lawful efforts of any firefighter or company
of firefighters to extinguish the fire, or acts in a manner calculated to prevent the fire
from being extinguished, or forbids, prevents, or dissuades others from assisting to
extinguish the fire, is guilty of a class A misdemeanor.
2. As used in this section, "unwanted fire" means a fire not used for cooking, heating, or
recreational purposes or one not incidental to the normal operations of the property.
### § 18-08-10. Prohibiting sale, distribution, and possession of fire extinguishers

containing certain toxic and poisonous vaporizing liquids.
No person, firm, association, partnership, corporation, or limited liability company may sell,
distribute, or purchase any fire extinguisher if the extinguisher contains any of the following
liquids:
Carbon tetrachloride CCl
Chlorobromomethane CH BrC
2 1

Azeotropic chlormethane CM
Dibromodifluoromethane CBr F
2 2
1,2-Dibromo-2-chloro-1, 1,2-trifluoroethane CBrF CBrClF
1,2-Dibromo-2, 2-difluoroethane CH BrCBrF
2 2
Methyl bromide CH Br
Ethylene dibromide CH BrCH Br
2 2
Hydrogen bromide HBr
Methylene bromide CH Br
2 2
Bromodifluoromethane CHBrF
or any other toxic or poisonous vaporizing liquid. No fire extinguisher of a type not approved by
the underwriters' laboratories or by the factory mutual laboratories may be sold or offered for
sale within the state.
### § 18-08-11. Penalty.

Any person violating the provisions of section 18-08-10 is guilty of a class B misdemeanor.
### § 18-08-12. Periodic fire inspection of state buildings and institutions.

1. The state fire marshal, or the state fire marshal's designee, shall inspect annually the
state penitentiary, the James River correctional center, the Missouri River correctional
center, the North Dakota youth correctional center, the life skills and transition center,
the state veterans' home, and the state hospital. The inspection of all other state
institutions and occupied state-owned buildings, except residential buildings, must be
made by the state fire marshal, or the state fire marshal's designee, at least once
every three years. The officer in charge of the institution or building shall prepare a
response to the report based upon the findings of the fire inspection. Inspection and
reporting under this section for residential buildings must be performed annually. The
report, which must contain specifications of any violations, must be submitted to the
responsible board, agency, or commission and a copy of the response to the report
must be submitted to the state fire marshal by the officer in charge of the state
institution or building. All violations in the report must be corrected within the current
budget of the responsible board, agency, or commission, and action to correct the
violations, unless good cause can be demonstrated to the attorney general, must be
initiated within thirty days of receipt of the report by the responsible board, agency, or
commission.
2. For purposes of this section, a "fire inspection" is a procedure performed in
accordance with standards set forth in the state building code, the fire protection code
of the local jurisdiction, or the rules set forth in North Dakota Administrative Code
chapter 10-07-01.
3. For purposes of this section, "residential building" includes all state-owned buildings
used in whole or in part for providing overnight sleeping accommodations to one or
more persons on a regular or occasional basis, except for single-family dwellings.
