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We have a fire pit, a wood burning stove and a fireplace. Surprisingly enough San Diego can get cold at night in the winter. High to mid 30s. We use the stove entirely for heat. We also have quite a number of smokers for delicious meats.
People in San Diego are lucky in this regard as San Diego city and its surrounding county are among the few parts of California they do not have widespread burn restrictions with exception of wilderness during high fire danger times for obvious reasons as fires from embers would spread out of control. Though there are no "Spare the air" burn restrictions for people trying to keep warm on cold winter nights which those living farther north contends with every winter. On the flip side though no city in the area allows Safe and Sane fireworks stands though there is no shortage of the contraband fireworks on the streets from south of the border.
A good, well built campfire with dry clean wood shouldn't have an excessive amount of smoke.
Bothersome levels of smoke are often due to people trying to burn paper and garbage, green wood, and dirty/painted, debris pile wood, not usually, the kind of fire pit people would sit around and enjoy.
OK, you want to ban fire pits because of the smoke. Would you happen to live in an area where people have wood burners in their homes? That smoke goes outside too. Want to ban them?
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During our burn bans, you are allowed to use a wood stove if it's the only adequate heat you have for your home--nobody has to be cold.
We use our electric heat rather than our wood stove during burn bans.
How about stupid states like California that don't allow clearing of underbrush to help prevent wild fires. That is just asking for trouble and is like throwing fuel on the fire. If the fires are started naturally, it is just nature doing its own house cleaning.
We love sitting around a fire pit, under the starry night, good conversation, marshmallows, mesmerizing flames. Had one with the family at the lake in CA last month, have them at our house now and then. It's just nice. We'd never move to a place where they would be banned unless there was a specific fire danger period. We love our fireplaces and wood burning stove inserts too.
I do not like the idea of a ban on fire pits. My yard is my yard, and if I wanted to burn yard waste and toast marshmallows I should be able to. Obviously, the size of the fire needs to depend on the space you have, and just natural yard waste and wood...no stinky trash.
If you could keep the stinky, eye-burning, throat-choking smoke in your yard, I'd agree with you.
Most fireplaces around here are gas. Same with outdoor bbqs, though the charcoal ones are not super smoky. Even seen fire pits rigged with gas. I see nothing wrong with these things.
Burning wood and forcing everyone to choke on it is ************.
I love the scent of burning wood so a fire pit doesn't bother me. But I can see how it might bother someone in a subdivision with small yards.
We live in a lot that's nearly an acre in a subdivision with large lots. I'm glad we don't have restrictions on fire pits - other than, of course, burn bans in general if it gets too dry around here.
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