Wildfires are really upsetting me

I live by Epping Forest and despite constant warnings and the fact that they are forbidden in the forest, people continue to use disposable bbqs.
A couple of weeks ago a fire (was) started in the conservation area opposite our road. There is no access for fire engines so the fireman had to carry water in packs on their backs to put it out. Those poor guys!
Today we were reminded that even sparks from a fire source in a garden that neighbours the forest can cause a fire. Hoping that people take notice.

M0nica

Not everyone buying a portable barbeque is taking them into the great outdoors. If DH and I occasionally fancy a barbeque, we put a disposable barbeque in our normal barbeque and use that. It is just the right size for 2 or 3 people.

Nothing wasteful about it. We consume less charcoal than making a barbercue from scratch and the foil container and grill are recyclable. The disposable barbercue stays in the ain barbecue until burnto out and cold and I usually put some tin foil over it when we have finished. - The barbercue is on the patio, well away from anything flammable.

It is iritating when stupid people ruin things for people using items like this for there own convenience and in perfect safety. I have never in my life lit a barbercue other than in the safety of my garden.

How can it possibly be more convenient if you're putting it into a barbecue you've already got? Why not buy those bags of briquettes that you just light? Or just half the bag if you only want it for a couple of people? Seems ridiculous to buy a disposable one when you've got all the necessary equipment right there!

I'm worried that my compost heap might spontaneously combust. Perhaps I should throw water on it..

I live in a first floor flat (top level, block of 4, so 2 gf, 2 ff). My lounge is south facing and has windows on two sides so it has been unbearable here (29.5° inside). My neighbour lit a fire pit at 10pm on Thursday, just as cooler air tried to flow through my flat right outside my bedroom window. I could have cried.

Sometimes I just can’t bear the human race ?

This field has been burning for nearly an hour, it looks like it is: spreading to our local birdwatching marshes (which are currently tinder dry)

Under normal conditions this is a flood plain and has been waterlogged for as long as I can remember, I have lived here/had a family base here for 51 years.

I'm guessing it's not the responsible people using them at home that we need to worry about. It's the groups of holiday makers, day trippers, campers etc of which we see many who think it might be a good idea to buy once and dispose of them. In the shops and cafés along our seafront you can grab a few cans of beer, coke etc and sitting on the next shelf are also disposable barbecues ready to grab at the same time. So sometimes it's just an impromptu purchase with no real thought. I don't think these people are going to take them home to re use.

M0nica I never meant that everyone who uses them is irresponsible, but when you think how many are sold there's a good chance that a large number of them are left lying around to cause possible fires or burns. Here is a picture of a fire raging near Bournemouth at this very moment which was almost certainly caused by a disposable barbeque (they found one at the site of a little camp).
Like anything (dogs, litter) there are responsible people and irresponsible people. It just seems that the latter are growing in number all the time and they cause more and more trouble.

TeacherAnne, I too objected to the assumptions in *Chestnut's post.

As I posted above, we use them at home in our garden in a big barberque. Ideal for two, and recycle the tray. We usually do it about once a year.

We were wandering in our local park enjoying a cooler interlude in the early evening this week , and saw some people with a disposable barbeque, it's scorching hot at the moment so the idea of impromptu barbeques in public places is quite alarming. I think I read some supermarkets have stopped selling them for the time being.

I don’t know how you legislate against wilful stupidity. Not this year, but during a former very dry summer dh and I saw a group of teen boys sitting around a small fire in Richmond Park - this despite clear signs saying No Fires Or Barbecues.

Pleased to say dh went over, tore them off a strip, and waited until it was completely doused/stamped out.

nanna8 If only we would. But it's August (our summer holiday month) and with Boris being in limbo nothing is happening at all at the moment so it's too late for this year.

When the temp go up around 38or 40C they declare days of total fire Bans here. No lighting any fires whatsoever, including BBQs, in the open . Fines for throwing cigarette butts out of windows, no welding or use of anything that might produce sparks subject to a large fine or even jail. Why don’t you do the same ?

Chestnut

No matter how stupid people are their stupidity never fails to amaze me. I just want to slap them! And disposable barbeques should be banned and made illegal. I think there is a movement towards doing that, but it's too late for this summer.

It would be a good move to ban them even though it is too late to stop fires this year.
it is upsetting to see so many field fires and for people to have damaged homes.
We are fortunate to not have the fires on a huge scale as in the US or Australia though I think.

I fear for the wildlife the most.

We had a fire in the marshes near us in March. It was deliberately set alight by youths. The nests of all the birds on that part of the marsh were destroyed and I should imagine a lot of mammals were killed, too.

Don't you recycle the aluminium tray?

Chestnut

Food should always be cooked on proper barbeques, not these ridiculous foil tins which are not only dangerous but environmentally very unfriendly. The people who use them leave them lying around to start fires in the woods, or bury them in the sand which can seriously burn a child's feet. ? (angry face with horns!)

I use disposable bbqs as I live on my own and they are ideal to prepare food for one person. I don’t leave them in woods or bury them in sand, I use water to put them out when I have finished then once cool, I put them in the dustbin.

I feel as if I’m living in some sort of a nightmare. Currently at my daughters looking after her dog. So hot I need to go and have a cold shower so I can get to sleep. Driving home for an hour each day and the car is unbearably hot. Both houses are surrounded by fields: there was a fire in a nearby field a few days ago. A year or so ago we came close to flooding.This on top of a pandemic.

M0nica There are always responsible people like yourself but it only takes a few idiots to cause massive problems. Apart from the fire risk there have been cases of disposable barbeques buried in the sand on beaches and then a child walks on it and ends up in hospital with serious burns to their feet. It's appalling. Imagine if that were your grandchild, you'd be heartbroken. If only people behaved themselves these barbeques could be sold to the public, but because of these ignorant fools they are not safe.

Tragically it will add to pollution as those trees are so great at absorbing it, and will take decades and more to be replaced. and will also add to the food shortage and price crisis, at the worst possible time. Both for humans and cattle, and of course, wildlife.

Not everyone buying a portable barbeque is taking them into the great outdoors. If DH and I occasionally fancy a barbeque, we put a disposable barbeque in our normal barbeque and use that. It is just the right size for 2 or 3 people.

Nothing wasteful about it. We consume less charcoal than making a barbercue from scratch and the foil container and grill are recyclable. The disposable barbercue stays in the ain barbecue until burnto out and cold and I usually put some tin foil over it when we have finished. - The barbercue is on the patio, well away from anything flammable.

It is iritating when stupid people ruin things for people using items like this for there own convenience and in perfect safety. I have never in my life lit a barbercue other than in the safety of my garden.

25Avalon

In days gone by after corn had been harvested and the straw baled up they used to plough round the perimeter of the field and then set fire to the stubble. The smoke was horrendous and even with the windows shut there were black soots everywhere in your house. Now I am not for one moment suggesting we go back to that but I am wondering if ploughing round the edges of fields might be a good idea?

And also burning dead leaves in forests. I hate to defend him but I think Trump questioned why this was no longer done. Part of the ecology of forests consisted of the forest floor having occasional fires I believe.

In days gone by after corn had been harvested and the straw baled up they used to plough round the perimeter of the field and then set fire to the stubble. The smoke was horrendous and even with the windows shut there were black soots everywhere in your house. Now I am not for one moment suggesting we go back to that but I am wondering if ploughing round the edges of fields might be a good idea?

Scary now, both here and Europe, even scarier for the future unless everyone does their bit, but they won’t.

And then you've got the rivers drying up. The Loire, The Danube and The Po. All huge waterways.It's almost unbelievable.