OT: Bonfires

[Roger Chapman]

ISTR that burning stubble used to be common and that could produce smoke banks a good deal denser that typical fog.

[Andy Burns]

I think razors or hot wax are preferred now.

[Stephen Howard]

I looked into the issue around here ( East Hants ) some years ago after a run-in with a geezer who thought it would be fun to burn a couple of old foam-filled sofas on a Sunday afternoon ( gee thanks mate ).

Bottom line around here is that you would have to contact the local council and issue a request for an inspector to come out and visit the scene. The inspector has a set of coloured cards, which he holds up to the smoke until he finds one that matches the colour and density. If it meets a certain criteria he can go and have a chat with the culprit.

If it's regular occurence though it's possible to have the culprit prosecuted.

Also, if the smoke obscures a pubic highway there's the option of calling the police - which will result in fairly immediate action provided they reach the scene in time.

The general consensus appears to be that for one-off bonfires there's not a lot that you can practically do, given that the sort of numpty who lights up a real smoker in the middle of the day is unlikely to be the type of person who will respond to a polite request.

Regards,

[Invisible Man]

.....and jump fire-breaks and burn other things, and fill your house with filthy black smuts even when you could not see the fire or the smoke.

I used to live in rural Norfolk before stubble burning was banned. Many farmers completely ignored the rules on ploughing fire-breaks etc. Also failed to read instructions on chemicals, sprayed your vegetable patch and the odd person at the same time as their field etc.

I now live in a village and in comparison do not see the occasional bonfire as quite such a big problem despite my asthma and other respiratory problems.

[Bob Eager]

Whoooosh!

[Tim Lamb]

In message , The Natural Philosopher writes

Envy makes a might strong poison:-)

regards

[Tim Lamb]

Not permitted now.

There were always rules such as notifying the local fire and rescue control, not allowed to light within one hour of sunset, supply of water available etc.

regards

[damduck-egg]

Aren't there some exceptions though , saw some smoke from a pile in a field last week so happened to look up what was still allowed. I suppose a crafty farmer could bale up some straw then allow the bales to become broken and providing he complies with all the other requirements legally burn them, though as another exception is to allow burning for education purposes I suppose you could just invite the local primary school over and educate them on what happens if you play with matches.

G.harman

[Tim Lamb]

In message , [e-mail] writes

There is a raft of exemptions but you have to register. Burning waste plant tissue in the open is no 30.

Or just leave it tidily heaped up during the school holidays:-(

regards

[Mark]

Difficult. On the two occasions I have tried this the smoky areas were different. One time the smoke was very strong only in my garden and in the street at the back of my house. The other time it affected a far wider area, including the road near the front of my house. I live in a housing estate so there are a lot of areas that are inaccessible.

It is quite possible that the fires are lit at other times but the presence of wind means that the smoke blows somewhere else or is not of a concentration that is noticeable. I do notice that the smoke builds up very gradually and also disappears very gradually on the occasions where there is a problem.

I think wind does blow towards my house because sweet wrappers, crisp packets, and leaves often end up in my garden.

[Mark]

That's a possibility and could explain why I can't see any rising smoke. I guess that would be even more difficult to trace?

[Davey]

We could smell bonfire for ages and couldn't work out where it was coming from until I was chatting with our next door neighbour about heating bills who happily told me that he had a real fireplace installed and burned pallett wood which he brought home from the skips at work.

I don't think it's legal for him to do this really as it's not smokeless fuel, but thankfully the smell has only invaded the house one evening in the three years we've been here.

[Derek Geldard]

Hmmm, I wonder what state his chimney's in ?

The local Council come round and turn over a local joiners shop to see if they are burning offcuts / wastewood. That's because it's a business.

If the wood being burnt is wastewood from a business it will kick many a hornets nest through the goalposts, even though the premises is domestic. For instance a licence is needed to transport waste and there are requirements to cover the issue of documentation. One could potentially get one's collar felt.

To some extent it's self limiting, heating is mostly needed in the winter when doors and windows are kept shut.

Derek

[The Natural Philosopher]

that's either simply a load of manure self-ignited (or hay) or kids setting fire (very common) or being done illegally.

Straw and stubble burning is now illegal, and the modern combines usually seem to mulch it up and leave it to be ploughed in.

Which means that the next year, they have to spary off e,g., the rape seeds springing up, because its actually wheat they want. Which makes ME feel a lot sicker than a bit of smoke frankly.

However, the law of unintended consequences stalks the Halls of Elfin Safety.,

Hmm.

[damduck-egg]

If it was kids then were doing a good job of driving various bits of machinery around the fire. It all looked well controlled and I reckon the farmer was burning old broken bales which as I understand providing a load of other conditions are met may still be allowed. It was not burning stubble in the old way where the fire ran across the field . This was a bonfire in a field with the waste material being fed into it. I looked up the regs later as I was curious to see if just having a large bonfire was a loophole but it isn't as simple as that.

G.Harman

[ericp]

From my local council.

Printable version Home Environment Environmental protection Smoke control Bonfires If you are having a bonfire, you need to be considerate towards your neighbours. Otherwise, your bonfire could be classed as a statutory nuisance under the Environmental Protection Act of 1990. We recommend you find other ways of disposing of waste, such as recycling. However, if you go ahead with a bonfire, please try the following tips:

Make sure the material is dry before it is burnt. This makes the combustion process more effective If a pile of waste has been there for some time, check there are no animals living in it Check the waste to make sure there are no pressurised containers or other items that are dangerous to burn Do not burn materials such as household rubbish, rubber tyres, paint, foam or anything containing plastic Do not start or encourage the fire using substances such as old engine oil, methylated spirits or petrol Talk to your neighbours before having a bonfire, to avoid potential problems such as smoke blowing over clean washing or through open windows Check the wind direction before lighting your bonfire, to make sure the smoke will blow away from your neighbours Contrary to popular belief, there are no byelaws governing the time that you can have a bonfire. Again, the golden rule is that you must not cause a smoke nuisance.

[The Medway Handyman]

Typical local authority/govmint advice really. Translated as "whatever you do will prolly be wrong, but we aren't going to tell you what it is."

[Bill]

In message , [e-mail] writes

MMMMMMMMMMMmmmm A few years ago I burnt a rather old foam filled mattress, it was a perfectly still day and the column of black, very black, smoke rose vertically to quite a height. The airship that was running pleasure flights from Cardingtion hangers a couple of miles away made 2 or 3 circuits around the column, pity I didn't have a camera handy!

PS, this was no problem to my neighbours as the smoke went straight up.

Unlike a neighbour of mine that was burning a lot of garden rubbish a couple of weeks back. He covered quite a large estate in smoke late at night, so much so that a fire engine turned out and cruised around looking for the source. Not sure that they found it though, due to the weather conditions the smoke rose up, travelled 1/4 mile or so and then came down again.

[jim]

expect the airship passengers did - have you looked on youtube?

suggestions as to what category to look under please?.....

JimK

[PeterC]

When burning prunings from small trees in a rather surrounded garden (I'd let the stuff dry for a couple of months) I chose a still day and kept the fire small and very hot, adding stuff only when the fire was going well. There was virtually no smoke and the hot gases went straight up for a long way.

By contrast, about 25 years ago, British Rail (remember that?) cleared the embankment near my house, piled up the greenery on top of old tyres, threw on some diesel and tried to exterminate the village. My neighbour managed to get to Sir Peter Parker on the 'phone - she wouldn't give details, but I wouldn't want to upset her! - and he contacted the gang. Boy, I've never seen so many dimdroids running around franticly trying to put out a fire!