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Updated: August 5, 2009, 9:25 pm	Share    Print    Email

The East Hampton Town Board recent enacted a code revision that restricts the time period for beach fires from 5 p.m. to 11:59 p.m., as previously visitors were putting the fires out at midnight just to relight them again. Photos by Aaron Boyd

East Hampton - The East Hampton Town Board has instated new restrictions on beach fires and may be implementing more in the near future.

The board recently approved a change to the town code that limits beach fires between the hours of 5 p.m. to 12 midnight. The code originally required that all fires be extinguished at 11:59 p.m., however code enforcement officials had found that late-night beachgoers were merely putting them out and relighting them at 12:01.

Members of the East Hampton Litter Task Force including Director of Building and Grounds Bob Rodgers, whose department is in charge of cleaning the beaches, met with the Town Board at their July 14 work session to discuss prohibiting beach fires from lifeguarded beaches.

"Most of the rowdiness we have observed is after 12," Chief Fire Marshall Michael Johnson explained, adding that the beach population is "much greater from one [1 p.m.] to four [4 p.m.]," than it is after five. The town instituted the 12 midnight curfew for beach fires three years ago, according to Johnson, and for the most part "it seems to have worked," as incidents of loud beach parties continuing into the early morning hours have decreased.

The Town Board voted to approve the time change at their July 14 work session with a vote of 3-to-1, with Councilman Pete Hammerle casting the only dissenting vote (Councilwoman Julia Prince was absent from the meeting). Hammerle was concerned that clambakes, which have to get started early in the day, would be virtually impossible to squeeze into the time constraints under the new code revision.

"We're not going to go after somebody doing a clambake," Johnson assured, adding that the issue is "indirectly addressed" in the code as any gathering of more than five people on town property requires a permit anyways.

The town is not "anti-beach fire," according to Chief Fire Marshal Michael Johnson, however the choice is between partial regulation and outright prohibition.

"We're not anti-beach fire," Johnson insisted, "but some regulation has to be in place." According to the current code, all fires must be 50 feet from any combustible materials, including tents, fences and vegetation, and cannot be larger than two feet by two feet. (Fires of greater dimension are considered bonfires or "open burning" and require a burning permit). Fire starters must also keep a bucket on hand and all fires must be extinguished with water, as sand will suffocate the flames but will leave behind hot coals that can retain their heat for days.

The board is also considering banning beach fires in certain areas, mainly the major lifeguarded bathing beaches, where residents have complained about finding broken glass and nails in the sand, which sometimes ends up cutting into their feet. Members of the town's Litter Task Force met with the board during their July 14 work session to address the problem of cleaning up after beach fires. Committee member Bob Rodgers, who is also the director of the Town's Building and Grounds and Parks and Recreation Departments, suggested that the town "put into effect 'no fires on the beach' for all lifeguarded bathing beaches and the beach from Eden Street to Surfside in Montauk."

Small two foot by two foot fires are allowed on town beaches, though they must be 50 feet from any combustible materials and there must be a bucket for water within 10 feet of the fire at all times.

With budget cutbacks across departments in East Hampton, Rodgers is finding it "increasingly hard to keep up with cleaning these beaches. We're down from two people to one full-time person who cleans the beaches for the entire town," he explained, citing almost 3,500 lbs. of garbage taken off the stretch of beach from Eden to Surfside alone after the Fourth of July weekend.

Town Supervisor William McGintee agreed with Rodgers that the town should prohibit fires on portions of the town's beaches, however "if you go down to Indian Wells or down to Atlantic [beaches in Amagansett], you have the ability to go down to the left of the bathing area," whereas in Montauk, "If you take out that whole stretch of beach, you take away the ability to enjoy what's kind of special about being out here."

Fire larger than the two-by-two foot dimension are considered bonfires under the code and require a burning permit.

"The biggest problem with that is that enforcement is scaled back so much," Rodgers claimed. "That's one of the biggest headaches I've got, that stretch of beach right there [in Montauk]."

"You can't have your cake and eat it too," McGintee asserted, with respect to the town's financial state. "If you want to cut services to save money you have these issues." The problem with restricting beach fires to certain areas is similar to the difficulties generated by restricting parking on certain streets, "It's not going to stop, it's just going to be moved in a different direction," McGintee surmised.

By the current iteration of the town code, fires cannot be within 100 feet of lifeguard stations, ostensibly to prevent them from catching fire, though the litter committee would like to see that increased to entire bathing areas in order to limit the amount of broken beer bottles and nails buried in the sands which accumulate as a result of beach fire activity. "Breaking glass in fires is just typical disrespect," the supervisor contended. "Personally I'd be more inclined to jack up those fines immensely on people burning palettes with nails in them."

The East Hampton Town Trustees, who hold it as their charter to protect access and traditional uses along the shoreline, understand that the board is faced with a difficult problem. "It's like our kayaks and the number of vehicles on the beach," Clerk of the Trustees Diane McNally contended, "It just keeps growing and growing and growing. The goal is to allow access to as many people as we can without causing a safety issue."

The board took the litter committee's assessment into consideration and requested input from the Montauk Chamber of Commerce before moving ahead with more legislative revisions. "I just have strong feelings about letting the community enjoy the environment within reason," McGintee insisted.

"We're not anti-beach fire," Johnson reiterated, "but they have to be restricted to be allowed at all. In the future, the town may restrict all beach fires, that's not what we want," he asserted, stating that his department had no opinion on the location of fires. "On a beautiful weekend you'll find hundreds of them," Johnson added, though without some guidelines and restraint, it is possible that the hundreds of little lights spotting the beaches at night will be extinguished for good.