To think that bonfires should be illegal?

[lavendertops]

I'm absolutely sick of them. Every other day some inconsiderate arsehole is burning one. Usually the same arsehole I might add.

We're not rural with plenty of land, all the gardens are close together. It's just an accident waiting to happen in this weather! I don't see the need for it, who has that much stuff to burn?!?

We're having a bonfire later on this evening. We have lots of trees and shrubs which we have cut back. A tiny bin for garden waste and no way of transporting it to the tip. What else am I going to do with it??

I agree OP - they are anti-social at best and downright dangerous at worst.

If you can't transport your garden waste to the tip, pay for it to be collected.

I can never understand why garden bonfires are permitted and at the very least they should be banned in prolonged periods of hot dry weather like now.

I’m with you OP. Especially when the weathers good, you’ve got your windows open and washing out and then some inconsiderate person lights up a bonfire. The particles in smoke, be it garden stuff or whatever are carcinogenic. The smell gets better verywhere and is horrid. If people do it when weather is cooler and after dark, fine if you have to.
And re getting rid of your garden rubbish, our large garden produces loads. We bag up all fallen leaves to rot down, leave for 2 years and then put on garden. Grass clippings are dispersed around the garden. Other stuff goes in green bin, and then for fallen tree branches/ cleared brambles/holly etc, we either take to garden refuse bit at the tip or pay someone to do so,

We only burn waste during winter, then again winter is the only time we get to actually fix up outbuildings and fences so it’s then than we create the waste.

They're illegal where I am in Melbourne, which has no more trees than London does. The difference is that councils collect garden waste in big bins fortnightly, so make it easy to do the right thing.

Burning on a private garden/farm requires a permit from the council. It costs money to apply for it, and the fines for not doing so are humungous. I have never seen or heard of a bonfire in a garden in the 12 yaws I've been here. The social pressure, not to mention the fine, is severe.

Much of the concern proceeds from the very reasonable fear of bushfires, though the widespread use of woodburners is unchecked.

Well seeing as my NDN decided to light a bonfire at 5pm on Monday that sparked up and set fire to our joint fence, two back fences and a fairly substantial bamboo in our garden YANBU.

Thank god for the fire brigade who turned up in under two minutes, dealt with the fire and gave said NDN a bollocking for lighting a fire after such a prolonged dry spell on a hot windy day.

I always do my burns in rainy weather. I see no reason to bother my neighbours by burning in weather when they are likely to be drying laundry/opening windows/enjoying the clear air out of doors. Similarly there is no reason to have a messy bonfire, with the risks of it getting out of control. I have an incinerator bin which keeps the burn contained, and burns at a far higher temperature than an open fire, therefore works faster, gives cleaner smoke and less ash.

There is no need to burn inconsiderately.

In my town there has been two major fires caused by bonfires because the grass is so dry!
The police have asked people not to have any bonfire's because it is to dangours in this heat!
So no op yanbu.

yanbu
they should be legal one set day a year and that's it.

I think that will be difficult to enforce but I think some legislation or guidance should be put in place. All too easy in this heat for them to go wrong

I have two bonfires a year , and both of those are to burn ragwort , which is a designated harmful weed . It’s basically the only approved method of getting rid of it , because you’re categorically not allowed to compost it , put it in garden waste , or indeed transport it off your property unless it’s in sealed trucks . That said , like the rest of my neighbours who have to do the same , we go round beforehand , warn everyone what we’re doing as it is quite a big fire , have an exclusion zone around it , and light it late in the evening , so it impacts on as few people as possible . So far in 14 years , we’ve never had a problem , and likewise our neighbours haven’t either . It’s not difficult to be considerate .

I thought there were actually quite tight rule regarding bonfires, and your neighbour is probably breaking them, might be worth looking at.

as with anything, sensible bonfires, at appropriate times are fine, multiple bonfires in hot weather are dangerous.

YANBU

One of my neighbours set fire to a shed, fence and a bloody tree when his bonfire went out of control because everything is so dry. The fire brigade have issued warnings about it

Our council have a collection service you can pay for if you can’t get garden waste to the tip

There’s a thatched cottage near us that had the thatch replaced and for weeks they were burning the old thatch. It was bloody awful

Yep. My NDN is an anti-social idiot and lit a fire the other night with flames licking so high I was terrified the nearby low hanging trees would catch alight, spreading to our fence. Luckily this didn't happen but I had to run round the house shutting all windows and quickly bring all my washing indoors. He always uses some form of accelerant which is a horrific accident waiting to happen.

YANBU

Our neighbour regularly has small ones with the burner sited about a foot from our fence. They never bother to knock and warn us. Even if the windows are shut (rare at this time of year) it still it still permeates the house through the trickle vents. I have had to race to pull in washing too. It'They have recently commented on a post on our village Facebook page (complaining about bonfires in the village) about how responsible they are as they only hold them after 7pm

Unless you live a substantial distance from anyone else or are as considerate as plominoagain, bonfires are never acceptable. We live in the centre of a reasonable sized town in Hampshire and there's a bonfire at least every other week that causes us to have to run around closing all the windows and bringing the washing in. There's a council tip about 2-3 miles away as well as a fortnightly garden waste service from the council which costs £40 a year.

Bonfires are for miserable autumn evenings only, when no-one's windows are open, washing is out and not enjoying themselves in the garden. Bonfire smoke is really pervasive. Get the council to do a collection if you need to.

YANBU

why are they not illegal yet? It's ridiculous that people end up with houses full of smoke if they had the misfortune to have the windows open when some twat decided to have one.

They are dangerous, they are a health hazard, a nuisance and a total antisocial behaviour. It's even worst in the summer, but they are already a nightmare in the winter!

YABBU OP. We live in a village where some of the houses are massive rambling old mansions on big plots and some are terraced cottages. There’s no pattern to who does and doesn’t make bonfires except that the ones that do are arseholes who piss everyone else off!

I —swore violently— shouted at someone about the thick black smoke covering my washing one summer morning and it turned out to be the vicar. We hadn’t lived here long at that point and I didn’t recognise him. He was highly apologetic and sincerely offered to re-wash my sheets 🤪 I declined and felt bad about my language. Guess who I ended up sitting next to the next day at the school play!? ...

YANBU that should have said.

YANBU. I'm pretty sure they're illegal here in Ireland.

Fair enough if you live in the middle of a rural area. But in built up urban areas it's rude, inconsiderate and annoying.

We're having a bonfire later on this evening. We have lots of trees and shrubs which we have cut back. A tiny bin for garden waste and no way of transporting it to the tip. What else am I going to do with it??

Most local authorities offer a garden waste collection service.

I love the smell of bonfires! It's actually probably my favourite smell. So Autumnal, evenings drawing in, jumpers back out...

But... people should be mindful of neighbours and not have during the day, and especially not on weekend days. That is completely antisocial. Or even have bonfires in the summer, come to that (if it's a good summer! I remember only too well the year it was colder on August 25th than on Christmas Day...).

Most local authorities offer a garden waste collection service

For a hefty fee. Yes