Let's get tougher on fire pit rules, says Randy Donauer

On Monday, city councillors will talk about whether to create a new law that would limit people's use of their fire pits from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m.

They will also talk about the idea of an online fire pit registry.

• What people in Mayfair, Saskatoon's fire pit complaint hot zone, think of a registry and curfew

But what actually concerns Saskatoon city councillor Randy Donauer is that the rules around pits aren't being cracked down on.

"We don't even know what impact the current bylaw is having because we're not enforcing it," said Donauer.

Morgan Hackl, Saskatoon's fire chief, said his department would rather educate and hand out warning tickets than punish people by issuing them a notice of violation that comes with a $250 fine.

"Whether it's property maintenance, drainage, open air fires or any other bylaw concern, the city always focuses on compliance rather than taking punitive measures," Hackl wrote via email.

"However, in cases where there is a continued pattern of clear non-compliance a ticket can be issued."

But even when it comes to (albeit rare) repeat offenders, the fire department is seemingly reluctant to get tough, as was underscored during an exchange between Donauer and Hackl at city hall last month.

• 'This is a huge problem': Saskatoon firefighters can't issue fire-pit fines

Hackl said that about half of a year's approximately 200 violations involved improper containers or burning materials. In one case the department visited a home several separate times.

"Why do we have a bylaw if you've got to visit a house four times to issue a ticket?" asked Donauer.

"We could go straight to a notice of violation [fine]" every visit, Hackl admitted.

"What I was trying to clarify," Donauer said of that exchange on Friday, "was that we actually could have issued tickets to... those people who were in violation of bylaw."

In 2016, the fire department issued 10 warnings but no fines, city council heard back in December.

Rose Turner, a resident of Saskatoon's Mayfair area, which generates the most fire complaints of any area of the city, agrees with the fire department's approach.

"It's going to ramp things up if you start handing out tickets and things," she said.

Hazen Mercer, who lives just a couple blocks west of Turner, also prefers a laissez-faire attitude.

"Unless it really really bothered me, I would just leave somebody alone that was having a good time having a fire," he said.

A good use of firefighters' time?

The fire department has said the people who tend to respond to complaints, firefighters, aren't allowed to issue fines; only inspectors can.

• 'This is a huge problem': Saskatoon firefighters can't issue fire-pit fines

But Donauer doesn't think firefighters should be the ones bothered with fire pit complaints anyway, a concern shared by fellow city councillor Darren Hill.

"I don't think paying four firemen to show up with a geared-up truck on a Friday night is the most appropriate way to police this," said Donauer.

"I think it would be much more appropriate to have a bylaw officer out enforcing a bylaw. That's what they do."

Donauer said he will vote against the curfew Monday (if a vote happens) and then advocate alongside Hill for bylaw officers to take over fire pit complaint duties.

"Those who are opposed to a ban or those that want a ban on wood burning in the city aren't happy because [the burning window] doesn't go far enough, and those that want us to leave them alone to do what they want on their own private property aren't happy either."

2 strikes, you're out a fire pit

Hill has suggested that after a second violation, a person should be banned from having a wood-burning fire pit, period.

That idea may also be discussed on Monday some time after 1 p.m.

Can't make it to city hall? Watch the live feed here.