BBQ party tonight

Exactly risk mitigation- the bbq is protected from the wind and is on a patio in a garden away from flammable substances with a hose nearby. That’s risk mitigation. You’ve made reasonable endeavours to reduce the risk to a level as low as reasonably practicable. Speaking as someone in the risk industry.

Yes, but if 10,000 people have a bbq at any time something could go wrong. Its about being sensible.

Yes the likelihood is heightened vs the base level, but is still negligible for a bbq in garden with all the mitigations in place as described. Just because the risk is higher doesn’t mean it is high. It is well documented that people are fundamentally terrible at quantifying risk, as you and many others have demonstrated on this thread. One txt message from the gov and you and everyone’s perception of the risk has changed hugely, yet the risk is no greater today than is was yesterday for example or will be tomorrow.
I am I charge of risk in my house and garden
and as already stated i used my outdoor kitchen this morning and will continue to use it.

I just don’t trust the BBQ brigade to all act totally sensibly. En masse, if 10,000 people have garden bbqs at the moment, something somewhere could go badly wrong. As a collective, I think we have a duty of care to one another just to not bother having a bbq. I’m cancelling the one I was going to have tonight (even though it’s a large closed bbq and my husband always stays with it 100% of the time and we would have buckets of water and it’s even near our hose, and we’re really responsible people). However, as a collective we all need to pull together. Missing a burger is hardly a sacrifice. There was a lot of selfish behaviour in Covid which was theoretically ok, but common sense suggested the perpetrator was just a tad selfish.

It is your critical thinking skills which are lacking. You use the example of hillwalking. In poor weather conditions it is indeed more dangerous to do this, and therefore mountain rescue teams do ask people not to do so.

In any risk assessment you look at both the likelihood of the bad thing happening and the severity of the consequences if it does. It is the second part which is currently hugely higher than would usually be the case for a BBQ in the garden. Vegetation is tinder dry, so any fire which did start would be harder to put out and more likely to spread to other properties, and should anyone need the Fire Service (who do go out to garden BBQ fires every year, btw) they are much less likely to be available.

you will upset the neighbours
you will get indigestion
cook indoors
you can still eat out doors

The usual illogical argument.
why go hill walking? You are putting yourself at risk and just putting strain on Mountain Rescue, who are volunteers.
Why go to the beach and swimming in the sea? You are just putting yourself at risk and putting strain on the Coast Guard and RNLI,
who are volunteers.
If you want to avoid increasing risk to all and sundry you should stay home with the lights off and never partake in any activity ever. Every single activity carries risk. You actively engage in the ones that carry the most
risk all the time without thinking eg driving. Yet a low risk activity such as a bbq on a patio at home suddenly becomes cardinal sin all because the government sends a txt message. Critical thinking gone out the window.

So if you know about risks and mitigation, how do you see the balance of impact vs benefit here.

the likelihood of causing a fire is heightened, and the impact of a fire would be huge.

the benefit of having a bbq vs cooking indoors is small.

if I were in charge of risk, and I think if you were too, you’d make the call not to take the risk here.

this is an avoidable risk with low impact of avoidance and high impact of the worst happens.

Exactly risk mitigation- the bbq is protected from the wind and is on a patio in a garden away from flammable substances with a hose nearby. That’s risk mitigation. You’ve made reasonable endeavours to reduce the risk to a level as low as reasonably practicable. Speaking as someone in the risk industry.

I love (hate) it when people use this argument. Yes you're right, you take a risk leaving your front door. A person used a similar argument about not accompanying 7 year old kids to public toliets (in order to avoid risk of sexual assault). The issue is risk mitigation. It's easy to take your kid to toilet. It's easy not to have a bbq for the forseaable. But you carry on using your firepit - excellent critical thinking there.

You are part of the problem

Everything in my garden is basically just kindling!

We are using logic, you are not. Did you maybe not receive the warning last night, or maybe not understand it and think including meant limited to, do you maybe not understand embers and sparks can come off a charcoal bbq and there are trees round about, that everything is tinder box dry right nlw.

Well on that note everyone, just to be on the safe side I’ll not be using my gas hob until further notice. I’ve unplugged the toaster too. Sandwiches all round!

Can nobody use any sensible logic anymore? Disposable BBQs in wild woodlands - bad. Normal BBQ on your patio is NOT what they are warning us about. If you’re lighting it on scorched grass then yes use your brain.

I’m fine with you and all the other moral police on here thinking that. I can assure you it won’t be my BBQ starting a fire. As an actual sensible adult I’m well able to manage to safely operate a BBQ in hot and dry weather (as millions in Australia and elsewhere do every summer without issue).

Well on that note everyone, just to be on the safe side I’ll not be using my gas hob until further notice. I’ve unplugged the toaster too. Sandwiches all round!

Can nobody use any sensible logic anymore? Disposable BBQs in wild woodlands - bad. Normal BBQ on your patio is NOT what they are warning us about. If you’re lighting it on scorched grass then yes use your brain.

Everything in my garden is basically just kindling!

I agree.

also, our charcoal bbq does release the odd crazy ember now and then (and it is operated by a very experienced person - not me). It had to be manned at all times. I personally would not consider lighting it. We live down south and all of the grass is dry and brown.

"A bucket of water is on stand by it will sort it out ,yeah, right. 😆
All these so called sensible people who are supposed to be so called adults who are actually brain dead.

Well on that note everyone, just to be on the safe side I’ll not be using my gas hob until further notice. I’ve unplugged the toaster too. Sandwiches all round!

Can nobody use any sensible logic anymore? Disposable BBQs in wild woodlands - bad. Normal BBQ on your patio is NOT what they are warning us about. If you’re lighting it on scorched grass then yes use your brain.

I’m not reporting anyone. I’m just pointing out that if people had a bit more of a mindset towards facilitating the collective good rather than just what they want to do, we probably wouldn’t be in this situation to start with.

The usual illogical argument.
why go hill walking? You are putting yourself at risk and just putting strain on Mountain Rescue, who are volunteers.
Why go to the beach and swimming in the sea? You are just putting yourself at risk and putting strain on the Coast Guard and RNLI,
who are volunteers.
If you want to avoid increasing risk to all and sundry you should stay home with the lights off and never partake in any activity ever. Every single activity carries risk. You actively engage in the ones that carry the most
risk all the time without thinking eg driving. Yet a low risk activity such as a bbq on a patio at home suddenly becomes cardinal sin all because the government sends a txt message. Critical thinking gone out the window.

The usual illogical argument.
why go hill walking? You are putting yourself at risk and just putting strain on Mountain Rescue, who are volunteers.
Why go to the beach and swimming in the sea? You are just putting yourself at risk and putting strain on the Coast Guard and RNLI,
who are volunteers.
If you want to avoid increasing risk to all and sundry you should stay home with the lights off and never partake in any activity ever. Every single activity carries risk. You actively engage in the ones that carry the most
risk all the time without thinking eg driving. Yet a low risk activity such as a bbq on a patio at home suddenly becomes cardinal sin all because the government sends a txt message. Critical thinking gone out the window.

• Immediate ban on disposable barbecues introduced to help prevent further fires

People across England and Wales will receive an Emergency Alert on their phones today as the Government steps up action to protect communities from the growing threat posed by wildfires.
The alert, that will be sent on a rolling basis from approximately 19:00, will warn people not to light anything that could spark a fire, including barbecues, campfires, and fireworks.
This guidance is somewhat contradictory!