Domestic bonfires - ok or not?

[Whatsyourcakevice]

Do you think garden bonfires are reasonable yes or no?

Assuming area where people have large gardens and houses are fairly spread out but still essentially a residential area.

Unreasonable = domestic bonfires are not ok

Not unreasonable = domestic bonfires are fine

Fine at dusk in autumn / winter when everyone's windows are closed. Not ok in high summer, particularly not in the middle of the day.

Manchester take them very seriously. Although getting hold of anyone is almost impossible.

Depends on the bylaws where you live.

Agreed. And certainly this was always how it used to be, back in the day. A sort of unwritten rule. Now a lot of people don't give a shit 🤷🏻‍♀️

It's also not a great idea to be lighting one when everything is parched. I wish they would ramp up garden waste collections spring - autumn.

Next door spent the the whole of the four day Easter weekend burning stuff in their garden. Started with garden waste (a lot of
it damp or green) and ended with household refuse, broken furniture, plastic recycling and who knows what else. They refuse wheely bins from the council and when it all backs up they have a couple of days burn. We try to watch out for the signs or an impending clearout and go away, but not always possible. The council couldn’t care less. Our road would gladly chip in for a skip every few months to avoid the burn, but they are cantankerous arseholes and refuse. It’s their right apparently. I would have no problem with the occasional bonfire of DRY garden matter, in the evening with a heads up so I can bring washing in and shut windows.

Perfectly fine.

We had one the other night in a fire pit. We waited until the chance of washing being out drying was past and made sure we kept an eye on any embers taking off.

I think there should be such fires at designated times. Garden waste for example.

Had a couple here when we were new and had half a jungle to tackle in the garden. Mentioned it to the neighbours first who were slightly bemused as to why we are asking and didn't object in the least.

Don't have anywhere suitable for one now although we have plenty more garden waste it would be helpful to burn.

I think they smell nice.

It also perfectly fine to hold different views without being abusive.

I cooked some steaks on the bbq the other day. Increadible amount of smoke came off those suckers. Easily as much as a fire. Do you want to ban bbqs too?

It's just part of life and always has been.

I don't pay them too much mind to be honest, even if I have to dash out and grab my washing in.

Flaming Phil next door is having a burn off as we speak. Its windy asf and the smell is coming into my house. Its so unnecessary.

You'd never get to that point if you lived near us, as we have washing out at all times of day and night, all year round!

Definitely not ok. And nothing like a bbq, bonfires go on for hours and smell horrible throughout, a bbq is only smoky for about ten minutes initially plus a bit of sizzle during actual cooking. No comparison.

Absolutely fine in the autumn/winter when it’s overcast and grey.

Completely antisocial in the summer.

Oh but MN says it will be darked on and spiders will rub their willies on it!
Hopefully you are that relaxed that a little smoke from my fire won't have bothered you

A little smoke is fine. Plumes of acrid, black, smoke, not so much!

We brave the dark and spider willies here. 🤣

Bonfire and bbq are completely different

What about my neighbours who have BBQs very often - except they always use wood that hasn't been dried properly instead of charcoal! They always say they're just having a BBQ so there's no problem ...

Depends on local bye laws, ours allow for burning garden waste, no time limits in force.
We have a fire pit, had a burn a few weeks ago, early evening, whilst it was drizzling (so no washing out etc) to be met with a loud "Ffs" from next door (who proceeded to smoke some seriously strong weed outside an hour later as our fire was dying out)?!

I don't mind the smell of burning wood so much, but one of our neighbours chose last Saturday evening when we had every window in the house open (trying to get cool) to burn the lowest grade fatty dead-animal they could find as some sort of offering to the gods of the bank holiday. No one who could actually cook would have had the brass-neck to call something that smelled that bad "barbeque". This filled every room in our home with the odour of a condemned kebab shop. Erruuughhhh.

@TunnocksOrDeath thats horrible 🤢

Where I am in Australia there's a total ban on bonfires as it's heavily treed and most houses are timber-framed, if not entirely built of timber. Now I think of it, I'd be amazed if there's anywhere in Oz where outside burning isn't heavily regulated.

BUT
Where I am, garden waste is collected weekly in a big bin. The council makes it easier to do the right thing. They also build and maintain free electric barbecues at the beach and in parks to keep people onside.

I'm sure this isn't cheap but it works.