{"data":{"id":"us-nc/n.c.-gen.-stat.-14-137","jurisdiction":"us-nc","citation":"N.C. Gen. Stat. § 14-137","heading":"Willfully or negligently setting fire to woods and fields.","body":"If any person, firm or corporation shall willfully or negligently set on fire, or cause to be set on fire, any woods, lands or fields, whatsoever, every such offender shall be guilty of a Class 2 misdemeanor. This section shall apply only in those counties under the protection of the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services in its work of forest fire control. It shall not apply in the case of a landowner firing, or causing to be fired, his own open, nonwooded lands, or fields in connection with farming or building operations at the time and in the manner now provided by law: Provided, he shall have confined the fire at his own expense to said open lands or fields. (1907, c. 320, ss. 4, 5; C.S., s. 4310; 1925, c. 61, s. 2; 1941, c. 258; 1973, c. 1262, s. 86; 1977, c. 771, s. 4; 1989, c. 727, s. 218(3); 1993, c. 539, s. 79; 1994, Ex. Sess., c. 24, s. 14(c); 1997-443, s. 11A.119(a); 2015-241, s. 14.30(u); 2015-263, s. 36(a).)","path":["Chapter 14. Criminal Law.","SUBCHAPTER VI. CRIMINAL TRESPASS.","Article 22. Damages and Other Offenses to Land and Fixtures."],"source_url":"https://www.ncleg.gov/EnactedLegislation/Statutes/HTML/BySection/Chapter_14/GS_14-137.html","current_through":"S.L. 2026-30","vintage":"","retrieved_at":"2026-08-27T17:56:32Z","sha256":"d2bdf5422f64449069b66294e96f785fa80b1a3e9c1f471baa3fdc8e8d0297ed","source_id":"us-nc","stale":false,"prev":"us-nc/n.c.-gen.-stat.-14-136","next":"us-nc/n.c.-gen.-stat.-14-138"},"notice":"GroundRules: Original legal text. Not legal advice."}