Neighbour's bonfire

TeamPlum

Hi,

Last night was a lovely night so threw open the doors and windows. Ended up upstairs due to decorating. Was shouted downstairs by my wife when she got herself a drink.

Neighbour in the house next door but one had started an enormous bonfire burning branches of a conifer tree he'd been attacking the day previously. By the time we were aware, the entire ground floor was filled with smoke, due to the direction of the wind. Had to rush round and close all doors and windows (this was about 7:00pm).

Smoke was so bad people were coming from up the street to see where it was coming from (as I would estimate 30 houses had to close their doors/windows. Cars driving on the road were having to put their fog lights on to get through the smoke. He was still at it at 11:30. He wasn't interested when I asked him to calm down with the fire over the fence. (The flames were about 15 feet in the air when they took a new branch - that stuff goes up like twitch!)

Wake up this morning, house stinks like smoke/wood, and our cars were covered in ash.

Nothing can be done now, I'm aware - but is there anyway to deal with this in the future, if such a situation began again?

Heedtheadvice

Just call the fire brigade! Or use your own hose!

Cisco001

May be asking advice from council environment team?

TeamPlum

Would the fire brigade be interested? It was an enormous bonfire, but he'd managed to avoid setting anything else on fire (somehow).

dermonte

As long as its not in a smoke control area, they are allowed to have occasional bonfire. It only becomes a nuisanse if it becomes regular. Then you need to note the times and dates when these nuisanse occurs and then contact environment officers. If you are friendly with your neighbours, first politely told them thats its becoming a nuisanse. If they are nice, than they wont do it again or regular.

dermonte

http://www.gardenlaw.co.uk/bonfires.htm

moneyistooshorttomention

Think I'd be most surprised/annoyed at it going on until 11.30pm at night.

Noise has to stop before then - by law. I would think it would be all the more the case with a potential safety hazard like a blimmin' great bonfire.

I know that if I had a neighbour daft/selfish enough to do that - I'd feel I had to stay up until I was quite sure it was all over - just in case they presented a risk to my home by their actions.

Davesnave

If a large amount of smoke is drifting into the road, the police would be your best bet.

Relevant and instant....maybe!

d0nkeyk0ng

the Highways Acts state that it is an offence for smoke from a bonfire to drift onto a public highway. If this is the case, contact the police."

There's your action there. Call the police next time. Otherwise the odd bonfire (unless regular) isn't regarded as a nuisance.

Detroit

Heedtheadvice wrote: »

Just call the fire brigade! Or use your own hose!

You should not call the fire brigade unless you believe there to be an emergency.
It would be irresponsible to divert resources from genuine emergencies to deal with neighbour nuisance.

phoebe1989seb

TeamPlum wrote: »

Would the fire brigade be interested? It was an enormous bonfire, but he'd managed to avoid setting anything else on fire (somehow).

Someone - I guess a neighbour - called the fire brigade when a relative of ours and a family friend (in their mid twenties and forties, respectively - I only add this info in case posters assume they were daft kids ) lit the chiminea and the smoke got rather out of hand. Apparently they were chilling out having a glass of wine when a couple of firemen burst into the garden :eek:

Here we have neighbouring houses with much smaller gardens behind our largish (0.25 acre) garden. Four gardens back onto our one and out of those four, two householders frequently have bonfires at all hours. One in particular does it as close to our new fence as he can possibly get, but it is in a brazier. The other lights his closer to his property, but just on the ground. The smoke and fumes - God only knows what they are burning - are awful and sometimes every room in our house pongs for days after. Lately I've taken to lighting one in our brazier as soon as they start up......as long as it's not after about 7pm. If you can't beat them, join them

If I were the OP, with smoke billowing onto the public highway I'd definitely think about calling the police.......