Royal City residents will have to head out of town to enjoy a night around the campfire.
While more and more retailers are selling wood-burning fire bowls and chimineas, outdoor fires are prohibited in New Westminster. Portable propane campfires are included in the city’s ban.
Kathy Ius, who works in community outreach and emergency preparedness for New Westminster Fire and Rescue Services, said portable appliances or devices that people can sit around are strictly prohibited unless it is used for the preparation of foods. All appliances being used for food preparation must have a grate on top.
“It isn’t sufficient enough to have a large pit with a grate over top of it, for example, with one hotdog or a marshmallow to qualify as OK,” Ius said. “There has to be a clear and demonstratable use of these devices as being used solely for cooking.”
The city’s fire bylaw states that no person shall start, light, ignite or burn any fire of any kind whatsoever in the open air or in any portable incinerator or portable appliance or device, except where fire is contained within a portable appliance or device and is used solely for the cooking and preparation of food and is fuelled by propane, natural gas or charcoal.
Outdoor burning of garden materials or waste is also prohibited.
“The intention here is to ensure that fire protection is kept at a maximum,” Ius said in an email toThe Record. “In the drier summer months, the interface (i.e. trees, shrubs, forest) becomes critically significant when considering the use of these devices in our backyards. The potential for fire spread is very high.”
Under the city’s bylaws, people who have an open fire or burn building or yard waste face a $200 fine for the first offence or $400 for repeat offences.
