[B.L.J]

Can someone please point me in the right direction in regards to bonfires in suburbia?

DP and I just realized our neighbors seem to be planning a massive bonfire... We can see it from our yard over the top of a higher than usual colourbond fence it's only a few meters from the boundary as well. Their yard is just basically gumtrees and other trees with all their litter.

These neighbors aren't particularly approachable, so I can't even knock on the door and ask what they are planning.

I'm in WA if that helps

TIA!

[Georgie3]

Can you call your local fire station and check with them what the rules are?

[B.L.J]

I hadn't thought of that, i just think firies = actual fire . I was thinking it was a council discussion.

All I can find on my council's website is they have restricted burning from April with a permit.

This post has been edited by B.L.J: 02/02/2013, 08:15 PM

[MicM]

Burning Off

Burning Off / Open air fires are illegal in most if not all states.

We are in NSW, we just called our local fire station, they were great, turned up & used his hose to put it out & had a chat to him. Our neighbour was using an incinerator/drum so we didn't have any warning (like a massive pile growing next to the fence).



This post has been edited by MicM: 02/02/2013, 08:15 PM

[~sydblue~]

After what just happened not far from here, ring the fire brigade or police(not 000) and report them.

We have just watched 4 fire engines(1 the sky crane), a medical assistance vehicle and a fire control car(the boss) whizz past to a fire a street over. About a 5min walk.

[ZombieMum]

In Victoria we're currently in a fire restriction period - and when I spoke to the local CFA people a couple of months ago (just before restrictions came in for the season), they said to call 000 if my neighbour had another fire to burn off his stuff during this period (which he had been doing on a regular basis up until then). They said the police would also be involved and my neighbour could be charged.

At other times, permits are required from the council, unless it's a large rural area. Camp fires for 'cooking' are allowed on smaller blocks without a permit - so some people still have large fires during winter. Plenty of our neighbours have massive bonfires during winter and I don't think any of them get permits, but we're on larger blocks, but not large enough to be exempt from permits. Some of the people in the area have had a large pile of branches sitting there for a few years (us included), but it doesn't mean we're planning to have a bonfire in the near future. Our pile is waiting for DH to organise for it to get taken away.

[B.L.J]

Thanks everyone

I'm petrified of a fire starting so would much rather get it dealt with before they light it!

Plus it looks like their block would go straight up in flames with the amount of fuel they have...

[ZombieMum]

Well, you can't call 000 or the fire brigade if there is no fire. As I said, we have a similar pile, but we're not planning to burn it!

You could contact your local council and report it as a fire hazard. I'm surprised we haven't been issued with a warning from the council about our nice little pile, but ours is far away from any buildings, and we're not the only one with a large pile.

[i-candi]

NSW semi rural here. From what I understand if you have a green bin you can't burn off (maybe with a permit????) but if you don't have a green bin you can burn off certain times of the year.

Our friends have a bigger property and don't have a green bin so have a massive pile in their massive block! close to burn off time they will take our green waste that doesn't fit in our bins - which is a lot at the moment as we've had a few trees die.