To think bonfires are antisocial and unevessary?

[QuestioningStuff]

Why do people need to have them? If you have stuff you need to get rid of surely you can just take it to the dump or have it collected?

2 gardens over the back from mine someone has had one going since 7pm. My whole road stinks. I've just had someone ring my doorbell worried my house was on fire because the flames and ashes are coming over the top of the house.

It's been 3 and a half hours now and it doesn't appear to be dying down. It's getting bigger if anything. I won't be able to sleep until it's gone out for fear of us being burnt alive in our sleep.

AIBU to think this is just not on? Why do people do this?

I don't get why people have to burn their garden waste on fine days. I always do my burns on gloomy days when we're likely to have rain - and neighbours are unlikely to have washing out or be sitting out.

I've even bought an incinerator bin so that I can burn in the rain.

I hate them. The smoke sets off my asthma, and the smell makes me nauseous.

I think it is very inconsiderate.

SacreBleu, with the 12th landing on a Sunday this year, it means that people will have two '11th nights'. On the 11th, and then, since the 12th has been moved to the 13th, again on the 12th, if that makes any sense.

I'll be in the province for the first twelfth in twenty years this year! I can't believe how big they are these days, they're surely really dangerous for children etc? I mean, climbing over them the days before they're lit.

There ya go. This pollution is what we have to put up every year. This bonfire is made from pallets, usually pinched from places of work and the middle is filled with every kind of polluting crap they can gather, eg, sofas, plastic play houses, tires, etc.

Crikey. Sofas; just delightful.

OP, YANBU. I fucking hate bonfires around here (housing estate). Keep your shit in the garden until it's cold or something, anti-social arseholes. It's always people who have a car that could manage the three-minute drive to the tip as well.

I hate barbecues too, but I guess I'll have to live with those

but not everyone loves it! If it was something just you and your family could enjoy than fair enough but it inflicts itself on everyone

When you live close to other people, then everything you do impacts upon your neighbours one way or another - mowing the lawn when I might be having a lie in, or an early night, or an afternoon nap.... ditto listening to music...ditto having an argument...ditto children playing out....ditto baby crying in the wee small hours....ditto a bit of DIY or car maintenance....or practising an instrument....or cooking something with a strong smell..... or banging car doors after all the neighbours have gone to bed / before most of them wanted to get up. You could go on listing things for ever, but ultimately, if you want the convenience of living in a City, then you understand that sometimes other people do things you wouldn't choose to, and your "right" to never smell a fire ever, is no more important than their "right" to be able to burn whatever needs burning. As long as it's not night after night, then live and let live.

I am surprised people are complaining about BBQ's too. If in a built up area are people expected to do nothing

Bonfires are carcinogenic so I am surprised to hear people use them regularly in the presence of, or as entertainment for, young children.

Often in built up areas there are various bylaws that restrict / limit days / times / months that you're allowed to have bonfires.
I love fires, not ones burning rubbish, but burning wood, fab smell

I love burning stuff in the garden, particularly Christmas trees, though I rarely do it. Usually only when I have very dry wood to get rid of and the green bin is full.

But I understood that it was against the law to have a fire after sunset.

It's the stinking barbeques that infuriate me. The smell pervades every inch of the house so all windows have to be shut. The lighting fuel stinks and I swear some of my neighbours grill turds for sausages. Every bloody weekend.....[angry]

OP- in your circumstances YANBU. I would ring the fire brigade if the flames came over the top of my house!

In rural areas a bonfire is a-okay in my book, can even be a bit of fun.

In urban areas it isn't fine for me. A bonfire in a big town or city should only occur when carefully planned out and for special events e.g. Guy Fawkes as opposed to a monthly rubbish burn.

I'm with those who say better a bonfire than a BBQ. Nasty stinky things.

I love bonfires. We never have them but I love it when people nearby do.

Bonfire night is one of my favourite nights of the year. Fire, fireworks, black peas, hotdogs, wrapping up warm and being outside. Wonderful.

And I've eneded up with a child who is brave like his dad and hates them so I haven't been to one for years :mad: :D

Another one here who'd much rather smell a bonfire than our neighbour's rank, evil smelling barbeques.

YANBU -unless you live in the middle of nowhere, without any close neighbours, it is very selfish and unacceptable. I would at least like plenty of notice and to agree a date - not be sitting in the garden or have a line full of washing and suddenly find someone has started one.

Very antisocial!

A few of our neighbors seem to have them all the time.
Yet last year there was a bonfire that got so out of control just round the corner from us that it burnt the whole of the garden away(over 100ft in length)wrecked all the windows and back doors of the house,wrecked the adjoining house and set fire to 4 gardens and fences that back on to it from our street and wrecked the gardens,windows and back doors of the house the other side of it that isn't even attached to the house with the bonfire.

3 fire engines,10 Police cars,roads blocked off.DH out with his uniform on(Police Officer)to clear the road of those rubbernecking that were stopping the fire brigade and Police from getting through.It was all over the news and the newspapers.

Yet a few days later some newish neighbors decided it would be a good idea to have a flaming bonfire!Bloody Morons,no one watching it right near a wooden 6ft fence.Terraced houses 4 in that row,large trees and wooden fences in every garden.

My DH had to call the Police as it caught the neighbors fence and they hadn't even noticed.The Fire Brigade were brilliant they were out within a few minutes and they went mental at the idiots with the bonfire!

All the one's that burn it round here,all have cars,some have large work vans.No disability's or bad health and we have quite a new tipping site.Open really long hours,so no huge queues.The men that work there offer to help everyone unload they're vehicles and it costs nothing to use the facility

There's 7 of us and 3 of us are disabled,yet we manage to get stuff down the tip,rather than inflicting regular fire's on the neighbors.

Oh dear, we bbq at least twice a week too

I was also thinking what Pea and Sacre said.

Wonder if I can find a picture of a 12th July bonfire...

Oh wait, wee already posted one.

As long as it's occasional and not all the time, I can't find the energy to worry about other people's bonfires.

Unless people are supposed to never use their gardens, it's just one of those things that people have to put up with sometimes.

This is even better though.

I'm unsure why those with big gardens need to have bonfires

My parents have a 1.5 - 2 acre plot and never have bonfires. They have three large compost areas and for everything else they either put it in the green bin or bag it up and take it to the tip.

If you keep on top of your gardening, surely it's only the odd occasion when you will have so much that you need to burn it? In which case you could take it to the tip?

I hate bonfires. We live in a terrace and one neighbour always burns their garden waste. The tip isn't far from us, it's sheer laziness IMO.

We have a rather large compost heap atm and worry about what may lie within, already have resident foxes who hopefully keep away the nasties. Council collects infrequently and then only a binload for which you have to subscribe. Nearest tip is at least 5m away.

Our neighbour has a permanent bonfire heap accumulating, including plastics and his work detritus (property maintenance) so we are treated to a smoky bonfire at least once a month. I've tried to tell him about my asthma but he didn't seem to get it