Will Walton Commissioners End Wood Bonfires on the Beach?

“To be quite honest, I don’t have enough data to tell you which one’s safer and which one’s not,” Sanchez indicated to the Commission. He told the five board members that his department had asked for feedback from vendors who host bonfires on the beach and added that “propane is a cleaner burn.” 

Sanchez noted vendors and their customers shared that propane did not provide heat and that “there is something about the ambiance” of a wood-burning fire.  But he continued, “To me a fire is a fire.”

Sanchez told the BCC that the summer months are the busiest months for bonfires.  Discussions about fire bans, including bonfires during the summer months in extreme droughts, were not mentioned.  There was discussion of the required distance between bonfires and the requirements for vendors to leave the beaches “debris-free” when an event is completed.

Commissioner Donna Johns (District 4 ) shared that she had heard from a number of her constituents who were in favor of maintaining traditional “wood-burning” bonfires.  She referred to a recent survey on bonfires, saying, “…the number of propane bonfires people wanted was 15%.  The number of wood-burning bonfires was 85%, and that goes along with a lot of the emails that I’ve received.”

Johns spoke about the amount of debris left on the beach (from bonfires).  She suggested that in the winter season or “off season,” allow any of the bonfires (traditional, smokeless fireplace, or propane).   She then recommended that, because the beaches are more crowded, limiting wood-burning bonfires may be helpful.  She added that some people have allergies that restrict their ability to be around the smoke produced by the burn.

Johns also added another idea that could potentially track the vendor “by a simple app.” The application could help identify where the reported waste was found and tie the discovered debris to the vendor hosting the bonfire at that location. She also mentioned the benefit of potentially increasing the annual permit cost for vendors who provide bonfires.  She suggested, “…jack up the price for the permit, from $1000 to maybe $5000 so people would have skin in the game, and we [Walton County] could take that money and have the beach cleaned…” Johns then added that fines for leaving the beach with debris or placing debris in the water could be another way to bring vendors into compliance.

Regarding current bonfire vendors (estimated at 67) and permitting of daily bonfires (a limit of 50 per day), Sanchez said that as many as 400 permits could be granted in a week.  But this does not