AIBU to think heatwave barbecue reactions are starting to feel a bit Covid?

[PatioDwellers]

To think the bbq/fires in the heatwave responses have the air of Covid about them …

’my neighbour is having a bbq what should I do’, Ring 101, call the fire brigade, take photos, people will die!

tinfoil bbqs in the countryside, tossers and rightly banned.

@SunwaysSystemsmust have been excitedly googling, found an old story about a faulty gas barbecue and thought “gotcha!”

Funny how 2 weeks ago British people weren’t hysterical about what bellends French, Spanish and Greek people were for their wildfires. For some reason, we had sympathy for them. Maybe because there forrin. Only British people are thick aren’t they?

I never said that other bbqs were banned just that bbqs and fireworks are compulsory.

Having a bbq is in a different category to needing to drive to work etc.

Not at all, but I realise people aren't following the thread and separate posts made by posters. It was a clarification about my previous post that the alert will hopefully have the effect of reducing ALL fires, not just wildfires, so that the fire services resources aren't stretched so thinly.

My brother is a retired fireman and has been asked to be on call because they don't have the resources.

I live in the north west and our grass is all pale yellow.

The alert is necessary so that people actually realise how bloody serious this. Not everyone watches the news or goes on social media to understand what a mess it is out there. Hopefully the alert reaches the masses and makes them stop and think.

And yes, there are still bellends out there not taking it seriously and lighting bloody BBQ's and doing what the hell they please.

That's a very measured response 😂
Presumably you will be accosting anyone you see walking along with a cigarette then

The difference is that wildfires in hot countries can start with the intensity of the sun. Wildfires in the UK start with thickos.

Not true, the situation is exactly the same

Are you serious? The whole country is bone dry, it only takes a spark to ignite major fires that destroy and kill. Having a BBQ is hardly an essential human right. Read the room and maybe wait for conditions to improve. Have a picnic in the garden instead...

Agree !

And then when there are less wildfires they’ll turn around and say “see, it was all a big hoax we didn’t need to ban them etc”

If you've ever lived in a country where bushfires are common & hugely destructive (eg. Australia, bits of Canada and the USA), you wouldn't question basic common sense.

No naked flames in a drought.

What does that mean? Plenty of Australian posters have said standing bbqs are excluded from their fire bans and they carry on using them

Having a BBQ is hardly an essential human right. People using coal-fired BBQs where sparks fly should have the common sense at the moment to wait until conditions change. A foul-mouthed rant is not necessary.

Not that I think a disposable BBQ in this heat is a good idea, but this kind of thing really shows up those people who get their kicks out of telling on others, like a small petulant child.

I'll continue to safely use my responsibly sited gas barbeque in my garden, as I'm legally entitled to do.

I wouldn't be using a disposable barbeque on dry grass, and I didn't need an alert to tell me that. It's clearly a stupid thing to do.

It's shocking how many people firstly can't read and digest information and also can't see the difference in risk between a safely sited attended garden barbeque and using a disposable barbeque on dry grass.

townies just dont get it! If you live in the countryside surrounded by farmers fields with expensive crops in them - their livelihoods basically not only are we all contending with blue tongue but the fear that whole fields will go up because some twat wants his sausages burnt not cooked in the oven is very very real. especially as the water courses and boreholes that would be used to put fires out are bone dry as well. the govt get a lot of stuff wrong but this is spot on imo. anyone having a bbq round here will most likely get an irate farmer putting it out with a bucket of water.

It can feel very upsetting, when we're all being asked to make a small short-term sacrifice for the general good, to see some people acting in a way that clearly conveys the message, "Screw everybody else, I do what I want and no one can stop me. Bugger the consequences."

I'm not going to call the police on my neighbours for having a barbecue, but their choice will tell me something about who they are.

Most Australians are educated from childhood about fire safety in a way that we in the UK (I've lived half my life in each country) are not. Many Australians have seen the impact of fire in a way most Brits have not. It's a cultural difference.

But they still have standing BBQs which is literally the only thing that people are saying they should be able to do

Two words for you: dry lightning.

Most are started by humans though.
When we were living in Spain we were evacuated due to a wildfire. It was eventually extinguished 2 houses down from ours. Over 50 houses were burned down.
It was believed to be started by someone flicking a cigarette butt out of their window.

I do agree that many are started by human activity. However once started the climate and environmental conditions fuel them more so than in the UK.

We have a lot of thickies in this country who don't like being told what to do and have no concept of the common good.