Council seeks to amend open fire pit conditions

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This article was published 10/06/2022 (1321 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Regulations surrounding open fire pits in Brandon could soon be amended to limit their operating hours and the conditions under which they may be used.

The current open fire pit regulations have been in place since 2003 and need to be updated, deputy fire chief Terry Parlow told Brandon City Council at Monday’s meeting.

There was an amendment in 2012 that reduced the permitted size of a fire pit.

“In that time period, we have issued 2,753 permits and within the last five years, we issued 1,237,” he said. “Of those issued in the last five years, we have seen 83 complaints in five years.”

Those complaints have been about too much wood in a firebox, creating a larger than allowed fire, excessive smoke, prohibited material being burned and fires being left unattended. But no tickets were issued as a result of those complaints, he said.

After permit holders are educated following an incident, Parlow said there usually aren’t repeat offenders.

“Speaking with shift officers, it has been identified that they have not seen very many complaints even this year,” he said.

Further public education efforts on proper use and proper burning material, Parlow said, will likely further reduce the number of complaints.

In preparation for the presentation, Brandon Fire and Emergency Services contacted counterparts in Portage la Prairie, Red Deer, Winnipeg, Saskatoon, Moose Jaw and Regina to compare their regulations to Brandon’s.

According to Parlow, Brandon’s regulations are similar if not stricter than in those communities.

However, Saskatoon, Moose Jaw and Regina have restricted hours of use for residents to use fire pits like is proposed for Brandon.

The other side of the changes is that if the province issues a poor air quality advisory for Brandon — for example, if there were forest fires — residents would be prohibited from having fires to prevent worsening those conditions.

Coun. Jeff Fawcett (Assiniboine) said there was a problem a few years ago where local stores were selling fire pits bigger than the allowed size in the city. In response, Parlow said that BFES has communicated information about the permits and the size to local vendors, but since they service a larger area than just the City of Brandon, people come in and buy them.

That means when someone comes out to give an inspection, residents are sometimes told what they bought is too big to legally operate in the city.

Parlow said these regulations do not apply to propane-burning appliances, only wood-burning ones.

Earlier in the meeting, during the community comments portion of the agenda, a member of the public came forward to express concern about fire pits.

Debbie Parrott said she’d seen the recommendation for the restricted hours for fire pit operations in the meeting agenda and expressed doubt that it would improve anything because they’re already mostly taking place in the evenings.

She also complained of fires burning during windy conditions. Coun. Kris Desjarlais (Rosser) said current regulations forbid fire pit use during windy conditions and asked Parlow to provide a definition of those conditions.

There isn’t a set speed, Parlow said, but if a complaint is received and the smoke is disturbing another property, action will be taken.

At the end of the meeting, Coun. Glen Parker (Riverview) put forward a motion proposing the amendments discussed.

Coun. Shawn Berry (Linden Lanes) then brought up amendments that would allow for people with chronic breathing disorders to apply for 90-metre fire buffer zones around their property with a note from a doctor, a ban on fire pit use when winds are greater than 25 kilometres an hour, instituting a $50 annual fee for operating fire pits every year starting in 2023 and to further constrain the operation of fire pits from 4 p.m. to midnight.

Coun. Barry Cullen (Victoria) proposed a further amendment that would require residents to consult their next-door neighbours before obtaining a fire pit permit.

After that, Coun. Jan Chaboyer (Green Acres) proposed an amendment that educational materials surrounding fire pit use include information on the environmental impact of substances being burned.

Then, Desjarlais brought up an amendment limiting the total time a fire pit can be used at once to four hours.

Discussion on the regulation changes and the amendments was deferred to the next council meeting.

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