How to address late-night firepit smoke from neighbours diplomatically?

[Doodledoggle]

Hi all,

I have an issue with neighbours repeatedly having firepit bonfires late at night. I am asthmatic.

We live in the south and it hasn't been below 28 degrees in the day for weeks and so we look forward to the cool air at night.

Last night, for the third time this week I fell asleep to lovely cool fresh country air when we opened the windows at 9pm and woke up at 2am to the bedroom full of the smell of smoke.

Except last night it was so bad I had to sit downstairs taking repeated inhaler doses as I couldn't breathe. I still feel breathless despite many doses of fostair.

The problem is I don't know which neighbour it is and so I need to either knock on doors or send a note.

Our house is perpendicular to the village and our bedroom windows all face one way (long thin house).

Aibu to say something? How would I phrase if? I tend to go at these things like a bull in a China shop when I'm upset and I need some help with diplomacy here!

We are rural, but it is a village and in the summer months the breeze always blows towards our house as we are south/south west facing.

Can anyone help please?

I think you are going to have to go walkabout and find out exactly where the smoke is coming from. People tend to get pissed off with little notes and just bin them. I know I do.

I hadn't thought about doing it at night. DH doesn't understand and doesn't understand how anxious I've become about it.

Its nothing like a woodburning stove (which I know bothers some people) which pumps the smoke into the air. This is directly into our bedroom on a lovely fresh stiff breeze and my hair smells of smoke this morning.

Im not sure I'd have the guts to knock at night. We don't know anyone. It's lots of farmers and rented houses so the people living here tends to change a lot.

Would you consider not having a fire if you knew it was making someone ill?

Fair point on the notes. It's a bit passive aggressive isn't it!

What so go for a walk tonight if I smell the smoke again, work out who it is then knock tomorrow?

Is it definitely the smoke that's bringing on your asthma or could it be the stress? It seems odd that a woodburning stove which is far enough away from you to be hidden from your view is doing that.

Honestly, if someone left me a note like that I would assume they were taking the piss 🫣

@SirChenjins i was fast asleep then at 2am.woke up and realised I couldn't breathe! Definitely the smoke.

Its not a woodburning stove, those don't bother me. It's a firepit. Downwind of our house. We are against a steep hill so the wind blows at our house then around then stays where it is. So any smoke gets into the house. (old, thatched).

@SirChenjins my eyes were stinging and running too.

No, I am not very good at the gentle art of chat!

I've no desire for a fight and hate confrontation. I think it's because I'm running over the potential conversations in my head it's making me anxious.

I don't care if they have a fire at 8pm, but at 2am it's a bit much.

I'm beginning to think I should just leave it and if it happens again just sleep on the sofa with the windows shut.

For one reason and another I've barely slept properly in several months so this is just making it worse and I'm bloody knackered.

If you've got an old thatched house with a bone dry thatch on it, I'd be more worried about sparks from this firepit settling fire to the roof to be honest. Maybe that would be a better approach? Ask the local fire brigade for some advice and then go round armed with that?

@OhMrDarcy thats a good idea.

We own our house but the others are tied housing. Would it be reasonable to speak to the owner of the tied houses about it,? as they will be paying as much thatch insurance as we are!! (over £5k pa)

That’s ludicrous, no spark from a. Neighbours fire pit can blow up and set fire to someone’s roof, cmon. Be sensible.

Could it be illegal burning as so late at night?
What are the regulations on burning in your area?
Sounds like it is big if smoke so bad and very unsafe in this weather.

No one should be having fires atm. Everywhere is tinder dry. A couple of years back when in was this dry someone had a fire in the village and the sparks from it spread to a row on back garden fences. The fire was huge. Any fire can have embers drift away in the air - if they settle on green grass the chances are the small ember will fizzle out. But a small burning ember settling on dry grassland will potentially set a wildfire going.

Complain to the council. Can you afford a PM2.5 monitor to measure the levels of smoke pollution you’re experiencing and log it so they have evidence to take action?

Surely the solution is to keep your window shut? That's pretty simple, and completely within your control.

Search PurpleAir and they sell a range of PM2.5 pollution monitors. The data’s logged and shown on a map so you can record and report them to the council.

In the short term, a PM2.5 air filter inside your room should help. All of this involves throwing money at a situation that’s caused by someone else though which is incredibly frustrating!

Why anyone is burning anything when everything is tinder dry at the moment is beyond me. Suggests that these are not reasonable, sensible people. Is there a local Facebook group you can put a message on? (And not in a pas-ag way just perhaps ask whether others have noticed it, often that flushes out the culprit!)