St. Albert residents looking for ways to connect with family and friends can now do so around the warm glow of a fire on their driveway.
“This is really just a permission for people to, one day a week, place their fire pit on the front driveway,” said St. Albert fire prevention officer Michael Bos.
Last week, the city launched a driveway fire pit pilot program. The program will run for three months and will allow residents to have a fire on their driveway Saturdays until midnight.
“We're on up till midnight on Saturdays – you can put your wood-burning portable fire pit on your driveway and enjoy a fire pit,” said Bos.
Mayor Cathy Heron posted to her Facebook page Friday encouraging residents who partake in the program to enjoy socializing safely outside.
"As this winter and long shut down drag on I am pleased to let everyone know that we are relaxing the fire pit permits once again," she wrote.
The city initially allowed driveway fires at Halloween and at the end of November, and received a very positive response from the community, Bos noted.
“Really the reason for it is we just wanted to create a bit of a break for people because of course everybody's a little tired of COVID and COVID restrictions,” he said.
All bylaw requirements apply if you're using a wood-burning fire pit. Fire pits must be attended by an adult at all times and have to be 10 feet away from anything combustible. The fire pit must be a properly constructed portable pit and a grate must be available.
Certified propane fire pits are exempt from the wood fire pit bylaws, and the city suggests residents should use those instead where possible.
“That's actually what we recommend you use. We'd like people to use that because there's less opportunity for nuisance and less possibility for things to go wrong,” Bos explained.
COVID restrictions still apply – there can only be up to ten people visiting at any given time, as that's the current limit for outdoor gatherings, and masks must be used.
Bos said they didn’t have any issues when driveway fires were allowed previously, but if issues do come up, they have the ability to shut the program down.
“There's really kind of three considerations to it. So, at any given time, our emergency operation centre administration can say, 'Look, this isn't working,’" he said.
The first consideration is if people aren’t attending to their fires safely and are creating a public safety concern.
The second consideration is if there is a nuisance aspect and people are expressing concerns about things like smoke triggering asthma.
The third issue that could potentially shut the program down is if people don't follow COVID-19 restrictions that are in place.
“I guess, really, we're asking the public to be mindful of the safety aspect and be responsible and considerate of your neighbours,” said Bos.
Bos said if there are any concerns about safety to contact the fire department. Municipal enforcement deals with any issues regarding COVID-19 restrictions not being followed.
More information about the program and fire pit regulations, including a list of things you can't burn, can be found at https://stalbert.ca/cosa/news/highlights/fires-driveway/
