“Unnecessary! Mean!” “Enjoyable moments not illegal.” “Attack culture.” These are but a few samples of comments on a petition urging city council to rescind a revision to the fire-prevention bylaw. Council, in a unanimous vote in October, approved a revision that outlaws the use of wood as fuel for backyard cooking fires. Briquettes, propane and natural gas remain legal fuels, provided they are burned in a non-combustible container. But ever since that vote, opposition to the decision has been growing. “It is totally part of my tradition. I’ve been raised with cooking over wood. I don’t want that to be denied,” said Donna Kirkland, the Westsyde resident who organized the petition. For 20 years, she said, her family has cooked in a fire-pit, fuelled by wood, without ever running afoul of the fire department. “I’m going to beat this bylaw,” Kirkland said. “Because of this decision, they’re going to have to rescind this bylaw. “That’s my goal here.”
After a little more than a week, more than 1,000 people have signed the petition. Kirkland expects more signatures once she distributes the petition in other neighbourhoods, such as the downtown core and Valleyview. She hopes to present the petition to council before Christmas. The petition drive, however, isn’t just feeding off opposition to the bylaw. According to Kirkland, many people have signed to vent their frustration with what they perceive as an unnecessary intrusion by city hall on private property. “People are signing this petition that don’t even have fire pits,” Kirkland said. “They want the City of Kamloops to stay out of their backyards.” Mayor Terry Lake said he was “somewhat surprised at the reaction” to the bylaw revision, but doubts more than 1,000 people have regular cooking fires in their backyards. But he didn’t rule out the possibility council may revisit the fire-prevention bylaw, despite saying he disapproves of making policy based on a “community vote.” (Lake also opposes holding another referendum on mandatory water meters.)
The revised fire-prevention bylaw, Lake said, allows Kamloopsians to enjoy their backyards without the nuisance of smoke wafting over their properties. “Whose rights take precedent?” Lake asked. “The person that wants the right to a backyard fire or the person who’d like to go out and enjoy their backyard without having to breathe in smoke?” However, complaints about wood fires are rare relative to the number of signatures on the petition. In July and August, the fire department received 22 complaints about wood fires. Of that total, 14 were actual cooking fires, six were lit as a focal point for a party and two were used as a guise to illegally burn yard waste. General health and safety, Lake said, are other reasons he supports the bylaw. As a retired fire inspector, Coun. Jim Harker is intimately familiar with the issue. In fact, he had been pushing for a more stringent bylaw prior to being elected in 2005. Harker said the fire department has to respond to every fire complaint by sending out a fire engine, which is a costy and frustrating endeavour when the complaint is unwarranted. “Overall, they are a nuisance,” Harker said of backyard fires. “People aren’t in the backwoods anymore. They don’t need to have a fire in their backyards to survive.” Yet Harker said he may be persuaded to change his mind. To succeed, Kirkland has to convince five council members to change their mind.
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