Illegal Fires on the Beach

Earlier this month there was a message on one of the local blogs about illegal fires and smoke on the beach. Having big bonfires is a huge deal and a rite on many beaches, but there are many things to consider when lighting up. Many think  It’s good, safe family fun’. That depends. 

At one time Mission Beach had MBTC had 186 fire pits which cost about $173,000 taxpayer dollars. (probably more now) Currently there are about 25 active firepits just in my area of the hood… during the summer months only. An anonymous donor came forward with $259,000 to preserve the fire pits, but a fundraising campaign to keep the pits raised only $1,210 (reported in the San Diego Union on December 3, 2009 (f)). At any one time in a one mile stretch of beach in South Mission beach there are at least 7 illegal fires just on the oceanfront. Not counting the bayfront.

Cooking with aluminum over a illegal fire.

The Issues are many:

1. Health
2. Safety
3. Cost/Benefit
4. Environmental
5. Noise
6. Trash
7. Drunk driving
8. Sleeping it off on the beach
9. Enforcement

Piled high, with charred wood and a e-bike laying in the sand. A double whammy

I monitor, track, take pics, and send to city council images of these illegal fires because I want to live on a clean and safe beach. First illegal fires are those that are directly on the sand and without a designated fire pit.

How sober were these People, when they got in their cars to drive?

What happens, after the bars close, people (not homeless) pick up any type of wood, including those with paint, nails and other toxic ingredients, go to the beach and light a fire. The majority of these fires involve drinking and beach trash. Some people may cover up their evidence, still burning coals, which continue to burn for up to 24 hours.

They are not hard to see.. so don’t understand the lack of enforcement.

If the fire can be seen still burning, the Beach Crew has to call an up-loader to pick it up with a dump truck (taxpayer dollars) to dispose of the coals and trash, that goes into a landfill to continue to burn and off-gassing. If buried and not seen, the burnt wood (which you now see all over the beach) comes up again and or washes out to sea, harming both humans and animals. Much of the wood has nails in it. Most of these fires include glass liquor bottles, which get broken and are strewn all over the beach. Add in the metal spits and it is a recipe to anyone to get hurt.

Glass bottles piled on top of a still burning fire.

Kids usually and adults can step on these coals and the nails. Burning Coals (google this) harm many people every year.

Drinking again

• Girl burned by coals left on beach at state park | KIRO-TV https://www.kiro7.com/news/local/girl-burned-by-coals-left-on-beach…/80425970
• Aug 2, 2018 – – A visit to a Washington state park sent a little girl to the hospital with burns. The child’s burns were so bad the parents told KIRO 7 they had to seek treatment at Harborview Medical Center. … Ophelia clung to her mother as her parents shared their story at their home near …
• Toddler burned by hot coals at Mission Bay – CBS News 8 – San Diego … www.cbs8.com/story/38904283/toddler-burned-by-hot-coals-at-mission-bay
• Hot Coals Dumped at La Jolla Shores Burn Tot’s Feet – NBC 7 San …https://www.nbcsandiego.com/…/Hot-Coals-Dumped-at-La-Jolla-Shores-Burn-Tots-Fe…
• 2009: Second- and third-degree burn injuries from beach and campfire pits have hit at least a four-year high, according to patient numbers from UCI Medical Center. (Source)
• Jun 25, 2018 – A 4-year-old boy suffered burns to his foot after stepping on hot coals on the beach last weekend.Police say the boy was enjoying the Lincoln …
• Aug 16, 2018 – A young girl burns her foot playing at an inn’s private beach. Her mother believes the inn is at fault. The inn disagrees. Who’s in the right?…
• Jul 7, 2015 – A 2-year-old San Diego girl is recovering from second-degree burns after stepping on hot coals that someone left on the sand in Mission Bay ..

Dirty, Dirty,Dirty and kids play in this sand full of toxins

The burning of trash is toxic. 99% of these fires both in fire pits and illegal fires include the burning of trash.. mainly plastics, beer bottles, beer cans, food wrappers, shoes, clothing, bottle caps, plastic cups, lighter fluid containers. ‘Uncontrolled, low-temperature burning and smoldering conditions are typical of backyard trash fires. Created are pollutants such as polychlorinated dibenzodioxins and dibenzofurans, sometimes collectively called “dioxins,” fine particulate matter and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). These pollutants form during backyard trash burning regardless of the composition of the material being burned. y Alexander Cogut in October 2016, titled “Open Burning of Waste: A Global Health Disaster, for the Regions of Climate Action.”

I surround this still lit fire with the trash to keep people away

Open burning of trash can increase the risk of heart disease; aggravate respiratory ailments, such as asthma and emphysema; and cause rashes, nausea or headaches.

Another still lit fire, surrounded by trash to keep people away.

Trash burning also produces harmful quantities of dioxins, a group of highly toxic chemicals that settle on crops and in waterways, where they eventually wind up in our food and affect our health. In fact organizations from the American Lung Association in one study:  a single beach fire can emit the same amount of harmful particulate matter as a heavy-duty truck driving 564 miles, according to the preliminary results of a study by the South Coast Air Quality Management District (AQMD).

Glass bottles and still lit fire

AQMD Spokesman Sam Atwood says preliminary results show beach fires could be hazardous not just for beachgoers, but also for those who live nearby. The study found that the levels of fine particulates around fire pits and in nearby communities exceeded EPA guidelines for short-term exposure. In one night, a single beach fire can emit the same amount of harmful particulate matter as a heavy-duty truck driving 564 miles, the study found.

All this wood will be washed out to sea and hurt both humans and animals.

Mission Beach is a peninsula, ergo, this density packed 4000+ houses can be surrounded by fire pits both legal and illegal. That doesn’t even count the approved devices such a portable fire pits and BBQ’s.

That is toilet paper.. YUK

The beach along oceanfront in Mission Beach is strewn with charcoal and wood, plus the nails. It is very sad and speaks about the disregard for any regulations and the lack of enforcement. 

Including Paint

The lack of enforcement speaks for itself.

This is the perfect way to start a full on house fire

Fire Pits Regulations… which are broken everyday… 

• Where fire pits are provided during the summer months, they are available on a first come, first served basis. Open beach fires outside containers are prohibited at all San Diego beaches. Fires are not allowed between midnight and 5 a.m.
• The burning of rubbish is prohibited. Only wood, charcoal or paper products may be used as fuel. Fuel for the fire may not exceed a height of more than twelve inches above the upper edge of the fire container.
• The fire must be extinguished before leaving the beach. Coals must be removed or deposited in hot coal containers.

Our understaffed Park and Recreation Department has to either stop and clean up this mess or call in a separate garbage collector. Tax Payer $$$$ again.

Pallets are not legal in fires. Note the lighter fluid

All that lighter Fluid just leaks into the sand. Most of the lighter fluid is open and the bottles are half full. I pick up an average of 2 full lighter fluids a week.

It is unsightly and makes the beaches filthy. Often times I come home and my feet are black from the charred wood.

How clean is this?

Many of these fires have textiles, usually socks, but what is more romantic than sex on the beach by an open fire? Those textiles bleed microfibers into our ocean.

Wasted Wood… how many trees were killed just to leave wasted wood on the beach?

Wasted Food, If I told you how many marshmallows, chocolate bars and wrappers, graham crackers leaving, plus the spits, I pick up you would not believe it. That food attracts flies, rats and other vermin.

It is also important for Owners and Rental Owners to let their visitors know that these direct on sand is illegal and can harm both humans and wildlife.

Trash left behind at another illegal fire

As part of a Good Neighbor – Good Visitor Policy please don’t burn paint covered wood, plastic, wood with nails. Smoke does drift and there are many people with heart and other breathing issues that this will effect. The beach is for everyone to enjoy and let us keep it that way, by keeping it clean and safe for everyone to enjoy, not the few who want to break laws and trash the beach