AIBU to think heatwave barbecue reactions are starting to feel a bit Covid?

Wow, just cook the food using your indoor cooker, grill, oven, air fryer and serve it outside. Get some barbecue seasoning, char it a bit if you like it black on the outside and raw on the inside and move on.

Asking us not to have barbecues or use fire pits, Chinese lanterns and fireworks is just common sense and anyone not recognising this fact actually needed that warning because they're clearly very very stupid.

Hope they also warn about throwing cigarette ends - has anything been said about that?

If you don’t like your garden fence or patio furniture, sure leave the neighbours to their barbecue.

I never fail to be astounded by the scale of public stupidity.

Is it ‘moral perfection’ or ‘not wanting people to lose their houses and possibly their lives due to an unnecessary fire’, @WindsorGreatPark?

Seriously - people are being asked to avoid an unnecessary leisure activity, to reduce the risk of wildfires - why is that a bad thing? Is anyone dying from the lack of BBQed food?

Ask the people in Stourbridge, who have lost their homes, whether they think this advice is bad, or that people who are supporting it are ‘holier than thou’. I bet they’d prefer that no-one else goes through what they are going through. Ask the fire fighters, estate workers and farmers who are putting themselves at risk fighting these fires if they think it is a bad idea to avoid naked flames when the country is tinderbox dry.

Well. Let me think.

Are we being asked to stay at home to save lives? No
Are our children's schools being closed? No
Are we having to wear masks? No (but I've put one one to help me tune into that Covid vibe)
Are we talking to our friends at a distance of several metres? No
Are we watching daily briefings on infection rates from the Chief Medical Officer? No
Are we standing by our gateposts clapping for carers? No

I am struggling to see any similarities so far but will dedicate the rest of my day to trying to find at least one.

No, I'll safely and responsibly use my gas barbeque on my concrete patio. Why would I not? It doesn't have the same risk profile as the banned disposable BBQs on dry grass.

If we were a bit brighter and more considerate we would not have to be told to not have BBQs, fireworks, campfires etc by the government. We would just know not to do it. But we don’t so we have to be told and then some people complain they don’t like being told what to do 🙄

Here in Australia we have total fire ban days every summer. We can usually use gas bbqs providing they are fit for purpose and we meet certain conditions (eg close access to water) but no charcoal or wood. I don’t think you can even buy disposable bbqs. Welding etc is not allowed on those days either.

Given that out here in the rural Welsh countryside we had to keep our doors and windows shut for two days this week because of smoke from wildfires between 25 and 80 miles away from us, I think anyone who creates a naked flame outside unnecessarily until it rains properly is deeply irresponsible. And no, a barbecue doesn't count as necessary.

Agreed, someone set fire to the bin at msons the other week doing this.

I agree it's personal choice.

I rest my case.

We have a gas outdoor BBQ. There is zero fire risk as it is on tiles. The alert did not ban gas BBQs. If it did I would not use. As it did not ban outdoor gas BBQ then will continue to use unless rules change.

Yep, agree.

I definitely get the point you are making @PatioDwellers !!

Yes….both extremes. True.

dont light a bloody bbq.
don’t look out for opportunities to report on everyone.

Perhaps I’m misreading mumsnet - lots of divided opinions surely?

it doesn’t matter what the other mumsnets were saying. You made the point that we were judging ourselves differently to how we were viewing our European counterparts. Their discussions on their own mumsnets are irrelevant.

What is "your case?"

An inability to read and interpret information?
An inability to risk assess?

I will continue to safely use my responsibly sited gas barbecue, beause it does not pose a high fire risk.

I will obviously not carry out any activities that do have an associated high fire risk, e.g disposible BBQs.

Just because they are both BBQs, it doesn't mean they have the same risk profile.

It’s nothing like Covid it’s about using your brain to see it’s bone dry in most places, grass is like straw and all it takes is one spark to cause huge issues for an already very stretched fire service. Most people are sensible but there will always be one idiot who takes a disposable bbq to a picnic site and just discards it.

OP I agree that the tone of preaching and sanctimony is strong.

Oh dear

Usually, intend to go for fairly middling views. I don’t tend to see one extreme as right over the other.
But equally when it’s a bit of a worrying situation and people are losing so much, I think it’s right to play safe.

You haven’t made any case

Because you’ve made the decision that British people are divided about wildfires and Spanish French and Greek people weren’t, without having a clue what kind of discussions were happening in those countries?

https://www.braintreeandwithamtimes.co.uk/news/26467132.maldon-smoke-fire-festival-cancelled-weekend/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Facebook&fbclid=IwY2xjawTtPxZwZG9mAWV4dG4DYWVtAjEwAGJyaWQRMDhmbWo0YjN5cjFHclRzQWNzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEe3DkTwue3_QcgSDropKe5bNW_eJ8il67pUmBXJLGDFgnz6Qsm_o5pAooMFHo_aem_KY0olKwkqln5IEqWqNVYSw#Echobox=1786785407

You really haven’t understood the OP have you?