My neighbours set fires in their gardens and the smell is horrific.

[Dadschat]

Am I the only person that detests the smell of fire pits, chiminea, and the general burning of wood in one’s garden? My neighbours (many of them) are big fans of this activity and it’s driving me bananas. It happened today directly next door to me around 5 o’clock. The smoke was horrendous as the wood that was being burned was obviously not completely dried out. My windows were all open and my washing was on the line. We had clothes hanging in bedrooms waiting to be packed for our holiday in two days time and the whole effing lot smells of acrid smoke. I want to take a garden hose to it next time it happens. Am I being unreasonable?

A garden hose will only make the smoke worse.

I feel your pain, OP. Part of the reason I moved house was to escape next door neighbours who burned a chiminea (or similar) right by the house almost every single day of the week, for hours at a time. It made our house stink and we had to keep all of the windows closed on even the hottest days of the year. It's completely selfish and awful.

Lots of posts about pissed of neighbours, bloody sun 🌞 has a lot to answer to.

Well, depends what you are asking.

Am I the only person that detests the smell of fire pits, chiminea, and the general burning of wood in one’s garden?

Personally I rather like the smell of a wood fire - I suspect some people don't but I also suspect lots of people do.

However (Assuming you are in the UK) 5 o'clock on a gorgeous sunny afternoon like today has been is not the time to use one. They have been selfish and inconsiderate.

Sorry, OP. I adore wood smoke.

We live rurally so it just blends in with the other country smells!

No this is a common problem, our local council have had a campaign of sorts to deal with this. There's signs up around the local allotments about not burning green waste etc. There are a few green councillors around here so they're quite good about stuff like this. Just pop round and talk with them, hopefully you can come to an agreement about the frequency they use it, I always end up coughing the next day after being around fires and chimimeas

We save our rare bonfires for cold, very slightly rainy evenings when no one will have washing out or be likely to be using their garden. We do have a fire pit that we use about once a month but we have both bonfire area and fire pit areas well away from neighbours. If I was very close to other people I wouldn't use them.

Ours likes to burn sofas in a heatwave and set fire to fences again

If your garden hose will do the trick, go for it.

We had a tenant who attempted to burn a foam backed carpet on the back lawn 🙈

Am I the only one who can never understand why as soon as it's really hot people light fires to make it hotter. Same goes for BBQ's - slaving over open flames on a hot day is nothing short of mental!
Also I'm clearly not posh enough... what in the world is a chiminea?

It’s a total health hazard. Makes my asthma kick off big time