West Virginia § 20-3-6 Failure of person to extinguish fire started or used by him or her; throwing lighted material on forest land; enforcement by State Fire Marshal; penalties

West Virginia Statutes

§ 20-3-6 — Failure of person to extinguish fire started or used by him or her; throwing lighted material on forest land; enforcement by State Fire Marshal; penalties

West Virginia § 20-3-6

Ch. 20NATURAL RESOURCES

Art. 3FORESTS AND WILDLIFE AREAS

This text of West Virginia § 20-3-6 (Failure of person to extinguish fire started or used by him or her; throwing lighted material on forest land; enforcement by State Fire Marshal; penalties) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering West Virginia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook

W. Va. Code § 20-3-6 (2026).

Text

(a)Any person who, by himself or herself, or by his or her employees, agents or guides, or as an employee, agent or guide of any other person, shall at any time build or use any fire in any field, in any public or private road, or in any area adjacent to or in any forest land in this state, shall, before leaving the fire for any period of time, totally extinguish the same.

(b)A person shall not at any time throw or place any lighted match, cigar, cigarette, firecracker or lighted material on any forest land, private road, public highway or railroad right-of-way within this state.

(c)In addition to any other law-enforcement agencies that have jurisdiction over criminal violations, the State Fire Marshal shall enforce this section as provided in §15A-10-1 et seq. of this code.

(d)Any

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(a) Any person who, by himself or herself, or by his or her employees, agents or guides, or as an employee, agent or guide of any other person, shall at any time build or use any fire in any field, in any public or private road, or in any area adjacent to or in any forest land in this state, shall, before leaving the fire for any period of time, totally extinguish the same.

(b) A person shall not at any time throw or place any lighted match, cigar, cigarette, firecracker or lighted material on any forest land, private road, public highway or railroad right-of-way within this state.

(c) In addition to any other law-enforcement agencies that have jurisdiction over criminal violations, the State Fire Marshal shall enforce this section as provided in §15A-10-1 et seq. of this code.

(d) Any person who violates any provision of this section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be subject to one or more of the following penalties: (1) Fined not less than $100 nor more than $2,000; (2) confined in the county or regional jail not less than 10 days nor more than 200 days; or (3) sentenced to perform community service by cleaning up litter from any public highway, road, street, alley or any other public park or public property or waters of the state, as designated by the court, for not less than 32 hours nor more than 64 hours.