permiso de fuego

[gavilan]

in the old days, when you needed a 'permiso de fuego' you went to the Town Hall on a specified day, gave your name and address and were given said piece of paper ... this morning I discovered the system has changed ...

- you have to fill in a form with dates/days when you wish to have a fire,
- details of what you are burning.
- how long will the fire be alight,
- who will supervise the fire, and their NIE
- and a certified map of the property ...

then you take the form and map back to the TH who then send it to an office in Malaga who then certifiy it and send it back to Town Hall and then you have to go again to collect it ...

none of this takes any account of the unpredictability of the weather/wind etc ...nor ?how does one estimate how long it might take to burn tree cuttings, canes, autumn leaves etc etc etc ... I give UP!!!

[Lavanda]

Nor does it take into account that many local people simply won't bother to get a licence.

We are about to get ours. I'll let you know if it's changed here, too.

[gavilan]

exactly Lavanda ,.. just encourages 'illegal' burning!!!

[olive]

One of my neighbours got fined 600 euros for burning off his olive prunings. He thought it wasnt cost effective to get the man back that minces it all u mulch!

[gavilan]

maybe that's the plan ie authorities know local people wont bother wilh forms like I described ... and THs will make money through fines!

[El Cid]

€600 is nothing compared to the fine if you succeed in starting a campo fire, especially if you didn't have permission!

Sid

[gavilan]

the irony is that this property is right beside the Rio Alcaucin ... so hardly a dangerous place to light a fire

I would also add that a local Town Hall has obviously much more knowledge of who/what/where is safe to burn than a distant bureaucracy in Malaga city!

[Lavanda]

In Extremadura permissions are started and stopped centrally by the Junta based in Mérida. The climate difference between the south and north and the flat lands and mountains is considerable yet the one date fits all.

[Wicksey]

We once tried burning some garden waste about 20 years ago and it spread to our algarrobo tree and I can tell you, after that I would never even attempt to burn anything.

There have been less bonfires around us so far this autumn, and I would guess those there are they don't have a licence. Most smell of burning plastic from the greenhouses. Anything seems to go in this valley. There are loads of new casitas being built and extended. Perhaps they are all close friends with the local Guardia Civil officer who has a house nearby.

The local punta limpia site has decided in its wisdom to take away the skips that used to be there and were well used. Now all the rubbish just piles up on the ground around the bins, whole house contents sometimes. Very short-sighted as they have to remove it all every week. We now just dump all our garden waste on the far reaches of our land where is slowly rots down, although palm tree leaves are a bit stubbon.

[Lavanda]

We mulch and compost as much as we can and use twigs for kindling and branches for logs for the estufa but we do get vegetation that fits in no category especially brambles.