Council hears community bonfire proposal
<p>Munch Woods and Smokey Bear on the Flathead National Forest float during the Columbia Falls Night Of Lights parade on Dec. 5.</p>
A proposal to warm up folks after the Night Of Lights parade with a “gigantic” bonfire sparked a long discussion by the Columbia Falls City Council during their Dec. 1 meeting.
Councilor Jenny Lovering reported that local businessman O’Brien Byrd had approached her about having a community bonfire on the unpaved Glacier Bank parking area across the street from Byrd’s new liquor store.
“The idea is to have a gigantic bonfire with carolers and hot chocolate after the parade,” she said.
She said the bank was OK with the idea and that Byrd had talked to city fire chief Rick Hagen, who wasn’t present at the council meeting, and the Columbia Falls Rotary Club, which oversees the Night Of Lights event.
Mayor Don Barnhart, a former city fire chief, said celebratory fires are an exception to the state’s open burning law, which is aimed at curbing air pollution. City code allows outdoor fires up to four feet in diameter, he said, so residents can have a backyard fire to warm up.
“But a ‘gigantic’ fire — I think that’s not the best way to propose this idea,” he said.
Barnhart also wanted to know how Byrd’s event might affect business on Nucleus Avenue after the parade.
City attorney Justin Breck, a member of the Rotary Club, said the club heard Byrd’s proposal and had no problem with it. He also said he spoke to Hagen, who told him he was OK with having several fires at the event that complied with city code.
“But he personally didn’t like the idea of a ‘gigantic’ fire,” Breck said. “He didn’t want a city fire truck sitting around.”
City manager Susan Nicosia noted that with the Night Of Lights event only four days away, “It’s a little late to change things.” She also wondered if neighbors had been notified.
City staff and city councilors were in favor of Byrd’s proposal, but police chief Dave Perry noted that the city should support Hagen.
“Let him work within the parameters of the city code,” Barnhart summarized the council’s thought on the matter.
In the end, Byrd didn’t hold the event, but he plans to work with the city some more and hopes to have a fire for next year’s Night Of Lights.