A vote to restrict the time of day and length of time people can have use a fire pit in Saskatoon was narrowly passed by city council.
Six councillors voted on Monday in favour of restricting the usage of open-air fire pits to between the hours of 5 and 11 p.m. CT — defeating the five others.
Those who backed the reduction of marshmallow roasting to limited hours were Mayor Charlie Clark, Hilary Gough, Ann Iwanchuk, Mairin Loewen, Bev Dubois and Sarina Gersher.
The restrictions come after people expressed concerns over billowing smoke from neighbouring yards that would often force them to flee inside because of a plethora of health reasons.
“It didn’t use to bother me before but it certainly does now and we have many more children that are asthmatic that just get sicker and sicker,” said Charlotte Garrett, who lives in the Caswell Hill neighbourhood.
“People don’t seem to care and that’s the part that I find so offensive.”
Once the bylaw is in place, anyone caught breaking it could face either a warning or a $250 fine.
Garrett said while this signals some progress, she still doesn’t think council is taking the matter seriously and that they didn’t go far enough — if she got her way fire pits would be banned outright.
This also doesn’t mean firefighters will be going out of their way to crack down on those using fire pits. According to the chief, it will be strictly compliant-driven.
“Challenges around enforcement are consistency,” fire Chief Morgan Hackl said.
“We have four different battalions of 70 staff working to all types of emergency calls during the day as fire pit calls and so we just want to provide a consistent service to the citizens of Saskatoon.”
How many firefighters would attend each call and the type of apparatus used will be determined in the weeks to come by the Saskatoon Fire Department.
“In 2016, we responded to 190-some concerns. In 2017, currently, we are at about 236,” Hackl said.
“You could say that’s a substantial increase, probably about 25 per cent. But I would say part of that is because of our review of this process, bringing reports forward to the public and it’s really taken it to the citizens more and everybody, if I may say, has taken ownership of trying to make this bylaw better.
“Each time we’ve taken a report to committee and now council, there has also been emails or letters from citizens that do enjoy an open fire pit, a backyard fire, and so there has been citizens as well in support of leaving the bylaw the way it is.”