Can You Leave a Fire Pit Burning Overnight?
After enjoying outdoor fun deep into the night, some homeowners usually leave their fire pits burning, allowing the fire to die down on its own. But this is a very risky approach and you should put out yours before you go to sleep.
The overnight fire pit is enjoyable when having a night out however, unattended ones are illegal and carry the risks of injuries, fatalities, and property damage. You can be sued by neighbors and charged heftily for it in some states especially during dry seasons or in case of fire outbreaks.
Can you leave a fire pit burning all night?
It’s not advisable to leave your fire pit burning overnight, due to the high risk of a fire breakout. Sparks and embers from an unattended fire pit can easily start large fires, potentially causing extensive damage to your home.
Note: The only time you should let your fire pit burn all night long is if you’re having a night-long backyard get-together. In this case, you’ll presumably stay awake overnight thus you won’t leave the fire pit unattended.
Why You Should Not Leave a Fire Pit Burning Overnight
You should never go to bed and leave your fire pit burning overnight due to the legal repercussions, the risk of injuries and fatalities, the risk of property damage. Unattended fire pits can also affect your neighbors through injury, fatalities, and property damage.
Jurisdictional Regulations
The foremost reason why you shouldn’t leave your fire pit under a gazebo or yard burning overnight since it’s illegal to do so in all US states. Each year, American homeowners suffer unnecessary financial losses in the form of legal fines resulting from their unattended fire pits. Even worse, the penalties are usually stiffer if such negligence leads to fire outbreaks that cause extensive damage.
Some jurisdictions also have restrictions on what time of the year you can set up fire pits. Such regulations ban the use of fire pits during the driest days of the year when a fire outbreak is most likely to occur.
Risk of Injury/Fatalities
As you go to sleep and leave your fire pit under a pergola unattended at night, you’re creating a great risk of injury and fatalities to humans and animals living within your property. Strong gusts of wind may cause the house to catch fire, and since everyone will possibly be asleep and unawares, chances of your home’s occupants suffering high-degree burns that could be fatal.
Risk of Property Damage
You may also suffer massive property and financial loss whenever an unattended overnight fire pit causes a fire in your yard. It costs lots of money to rebuild home sections, patios, decks, gazebos, and garages razed down by the fire. What’s more, home insurance providers typically don’t cover fire damage caused by the homeowner’s own negligence. You should be extremely cautious even with Fire Pit on Grass whether attended or unattended during the night.
Potential Damage to your Neighbors’ Property
Whenever you leave your fire pit running overnight, you’re not only putting yourself at risk but also your neighbors. Strong night winds can cause embers from the unattended fire pit to fly to neighboring yards, potentially causing the neighbor’s house or outdoor structures to catch fire.
Note: Homeowners whose fire pit negligence cause injuries and fatalities to their neighbors typically suffer severe legal consequences.
Ways to put out a Fire Pit’s Fire
Some of the most effective ways to extinguish a fire pit’s fire are to let the fire die out by itself, to douse the pit’s content in water, or to use a snuffer. You may also put off the fire pit using sand and dry dirt.
Let the Fire Die Down on its Own
If you’re using a wood-burning fire pit, you can wait till all the wood burns into ashes and the fire dies out by itself.
Put out the Fire using Water
A more effective way to put out your wood fire pit is to douse the fire pit ashes and burn embers in water. You can use your garden hose or a water bucket to completely soak up the fire pit contents and put out the fire.
Use a Snuffer to put out the Fire
A fire pit snuffer works to put out the fire pit’s fire by smothering the flames. Since this tool goes over the top of the fire pit, you should ensure that it’s large enough to cover the entire fire pit opening.
Firepit snuffers are best used with water as the fire pit contents are usually still hot even after the snuffer puts out the flames. This means that there’s still some level of risk even after the flames are out. Pour water over the embers to speed up the rate at which they cool down, thus completely putting off the fire pit.
Use Sand/Dry Dirt to put out the Fire
Pouring buckets of sand or dry dirt will also extinguish your fire pit. When using this fire extinguishing method, use a shovel to stir the wood embers. This allows the sand to reach all embers and effectively put out the fire pit’s fire.
Note: Even after putting off your fire pit, the embers will still be hot. Thus, to prevent this, pour water over the dying down fire pit contents.
References
- Healthcare.utah.edu: Fire Pit Safety Tips
