A chief, his department, and a property owner are all on the hot seat for torching a house.

The state Department of Environmental Conservation fined the Ira Fire Department, the chief, and two others for burning a house last fall without notifying state officials.

According to the DEC, Ira Fire Chief Gene Lalone, property owner Anon Loewy, and Jeff Hills, Loewy's contractor, were each fined $3,000 for violating three separate sections of Environmental Conservation Law: unlawfully releasing a substance hazardous to the public health (asbestos); illegal disposal of solid waste; and unlawful burning of solid waste in an open fire.

Last November the Ira Fire Department demolished a house on Farnham Road near Cross Lake in Lysander in Onondaga County. While the Ira Fire Department maintained it was a controlled burn for training, the DEC said an investigation revealed that the burn occurred outside the geographical district for which the fire department was contracted.

Because the fire department failed to properly notify local police and fire authorities about the burn, four local fire departments were called to the fire, and the Plainville Fire Department, which covers Lysander, responded to the scene.

In addition, no document was prepared or filed to indicate a burn plan with training objectives, lesson plans, response plans, water plans, briefing, attendance roster, and a safety officer, as required by the National Fire Prevention Agency, according to the DEC.

Lalone declined to comment on the case Friday.