Hampshire & Isle of Wight Fire and Rescue Service are reminding locals and visitors about the dangers of disposable BBQs following a call out to Golden Hill this morning (Wednesday).
1 appliance from Freshwater was mobilised following reports that a disposable bbq had been left smouldering and unattended.
Firefighters damped down the area and, fortunately, no widespread damage occurred.
It was just 3 days ago that Island Echo reported on calls from The Woodland Trust urging visitors to its woods – and the countryside in general – to bin barbecues this summer and avoid the catastrophic impact of fires on wildlife and nature.
A spokesperson from Freshwater Fire Station has said:
“We have attended many fires in recent years where these bbq’s have been carelessly discarded, including just a few weeks ago where one had been left smouldering in a bin next to Totland shop causing fire spread to the outside of the shop.
“Please if you must use these bbq’s dispose of them safely and sensibly and help us to protect our beautiful Island”.
More idiots will be along soon..
I know we live in a nanny state, but common sense is now banned. Time to ban these polluting monstrosities before there is a major incident.
Spot on,they are truly appalling items.As sensible as that moronic trend for aerial balloon candles some while ago.Wonderful if theyhappen to land on thatched cottages or consumed by animals.
Could the people that phoned the fire brigade not have dealt with this instead of calling out a team of firefighters…
Fires in wooded areas, which this looks like, or soft earth can travel underground and pop up several meters away if there’s a fuel source, twigs, composted leaves etc, from the original heat source, so needs to be dug out, as in the picture.
True,plus the extensive root networks of trees forms an underground network of smouldering heat ‘highways’ even if the site of the fire is extensively extinguished with water and can flare up a great distance away from the source.This i guess applies to more free-range campfire arrangements rather than disposable tray disposable barbecues.A useful thing would be a return of public information films that were prominent years ago.
If you know you’re going to use a disposable bbq why not pack a 1 or 2 ltr bottle of water to pour on it when your done cooking, puts it out, end of problem.