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 wouldn’t have a fire in summer. I wouldn’t do it if I knew it was making someone ill, need a compromise like maybe in autumn you keep your windows closed to allow whoever to have their fire.

I wasn't complaining about "discomfort". You need to reread what I wrote. The smoke was in my bedroom one time, but I didn't mention discomfort.

It's exactly like a woodburning stove, because when smoke comes out of the chimney, it cools down and sinks to ground level, so that neighbouring houses in the direction the wind blows are surrounded in smoke. I have a neighbour who uses his stove constantly for most of the year, and can only open my windows in the middle of the night. I can't use my conservatory or garden either. You are in heaven in comparison. Nobody gives a toss about the effect on the neighbours, believe me. Despite wood smoke causing asthma, heart problems, dementia and cancer.

I don't understand why one type of smoke would bother you and another type wouldn't, aren't they both wood smoke?

If you couldn’t breathe then did you have someone call an ambulance? When I can’t breath with asthma I’ve had to be blue lighted in.

Because with woodburning stoves the chimneys send the smoke into the air above the houses.

Fitepit smoke starts on the ground and drifts upwards.

I've never been to hospital with my asthma. For me, not breathing means my peak flow drops 50-100 points. At a drop of 100 I require predisolone usually.

Anyway I can report no fire again last night. So I had a lovely peaceful sleep
🤗

Op, perhaps if it happens again you could point a fan out of the window - it may help to stop the smoke coming in and it’s meant to cool a room down more quickly. There are also smokeless fire pits that work really well (I have one) that you could suggest once you’ve identified the culprits.

I see. Thank you.

You obviously know very little about woodburner smoke. It doesn't just "stay in the air and float up to the heavens" somehow. It comes down to the ground, very often within a few metres of the house it's from. In the UK, woodburners cause more air pollution than all of the UK's road transport (from government sources) and is responsible for many, many deaths.

So this neighbour’s fire caused you an issue …. once

and as soon as it was mentioned on WhatsApp comm group they never did it again @Yellowpapersun ?

Actually the fact your house filled with smoke didn’t even seem to cause you an issue as your experienced no discomfort despite your home stinking?

You really are shouldn't have to justify yourself to posters making stupid comments. We should all be able to open our windows at night if we want to without getting a bedroom full of smoke.

Last year, our neighbour's compost heap caught light, set fire to the hedge. I had to call the fire brigade. I used this in a letter to other neighbours ( away at the time) who regularly left a bonfire burning unattended in their garden right by our back door - asked them to put it out properly at bedtime (suggested 10pm). They have behaved ever since.

I would absolutely contact the estate office about the fire risk is terrifying! The danger is not just to their own cottage. Family members have had thatched cottages and they were explicitly not allowed bonfires/fireworks/lanterns etc.

Oh, and sorry about the smoke, smoke really sets off my asthma too - we drove past a fire with the car windows open on Saturday and I really struggled the rest of the day even with my emergency inhaler.

If your asthma is so bad that smoke from an outdoor fire but so far removed you don’t know which garden it is, is causing asthma attacks you should have an asthma review and be on a steroid.

Agreed

especially as the op describes the situation as Except last night it was so bad I had to sit downstairs taking repeated inhaler doses as I couldn't breathe.

That's correct, the neighbours' fire pit caused us to have smoke in our house once. After that we kept our bedroom window closed at the weekend until we went to bed, by which time the fire was put out.
This year they lit it once and another neighbour complained about it on the WhatsApp group for the road. Since then it hasn't been lit.
Just to make it clear, for anyone who has difficulty understanding, I didn't complain about the fire pit because I was able to deal with the issue without stopping the neighbours from enjoying their fire pit. It was a different neighbour who complained about it on WhatsApp.

And you were cool with every weekend having to keep all your windows shut to avoid your house filling up with what you describe as an incredible amount of stinking smoke?

did you not wish to be outside in your garden?

FWIW We live rurally although in the middle of a village. We bought a fire pit, and it’s lovely to sit around with friends in the evening. However, we realised after only a few times using it that it is incredibly anti-social towards our neighbours and it was adapted into a floral feature.

Im sorry you have such thoughtless neighbours, woodsmoke coming into my bedroom at night would piss me off too.

Would it have been possible to just make the fire much smaller?

It;s also bloody irresponsible to have any type of fire at the moment down south as everything is tinder dry. It only takes a spark to drift off.

Not really, it rather defeats the object of the exercise.

We have wood fires in the winter from time to time, that’s good enough for me

Where did I say I had to have all my windows shut?
Where did I say I was not in my garden?
You're making a lot of assumptions and an ass of yourself.