Esquimalt’s annual Halloween bonfire has been doused permanently.
While it hasn’t been held since it was cancelled during the COVID-19 pandemic, Esquimalt council made it official this week: It’s not coming back.
“Every year the community is thinking about it and asking in social media of there’s going to be one,” said Esquimalt Mayor Barb Desjardins.
“At the end of the day we supported the idea to officially stop the bonfire and really work hard to build on new activities that can have the nostalgia and the tradition that the bonfire has created over the years.”
One problem with the bonfire is that people would often bring their own wood and debris to throw into the flames, potentially creating hazardous fumes, she said. “You really have no control over what has gone into that bonfire.”
While she acknowledged some will be disappointed by the bonfire’s cancellation, Desjardins pointed to the fire department’s annual Halloween Firehall Spooktacular haunted house as a family-friendly alternative.
A report to council from Esquimalt Fire Chief Matt Furlot suggested bonfires can be a health and environmental hazard, resulting in potentially toxic fumes that create safety issues for firefighters and could be a liability for the municipality.
He said things like paint and glue on what was being burned could be toxic, and even the often-used wood pallets might have been treated with chemicals, resulting in the possibility of toxic water runoff into local creeks and other waterways when the fire is extinguished.
“My message was really that there is no clean smoke,” Furlot said.
Other communities have also ended their annual bonfires.
Highlands Fire Chief Dean Ford said his department decided to discontinue its annual Halloween bonfire and fireworks event, which hasn’t run since the start of the pandemic, because of environmental concerns.
Instead, the department is planning to host an event with candy, hot dogs and a haunted house on Oct. 27.
“We’re moving more towards the open house like a lot of other places now,” said Ford, who remembers going to bonfires put on by the fire department as far back as the 1980s.
A planned 2022 Halloween bonfire event in the Highlands was cancelled following a one-acre blaze in Gowlland Tod Provincial Park amid widespread drought conditions.
Oak Bay is also not planning a bonfire this year.
Bonfires were once held at the ballfield behind Langford’s #2 fire hall before the practice was discontinued in the 1990s.
However, Central Saanich plans to host its annual bonfire, said Mayor Ryan Windsor, and in Metchosin, hundreds of people will be gathering behind the Metchosin fire hall for the department’s annual bonfire event.
Metchosin Fire Chief Stephanie Dunlop said it’s one of the biggest events in the community, following Metchosin Community Day and Remembrance Day celebrations.
“It’s one of the few things that the community actually really enjoys and it just brings everybody together,” she said.
It’s a tradition for mayor and council to show up in costume to serve hot dogs to the 400 to 600 people that come to the event every year, she said.
The only change following the pandemic has been the discontinuation of a fireworks show, which was ended out of respect for animals, Dunlop said.
“Fireworks just unfortunately are not well appreciated in a farming community,” she said.
Dunlop, a firefighter of 30 years who began her career in the B.C. Interior, said fire halls across the province likely began hosting their own bonfire and fireworks events to help cut down on the number of calls on Oct. 31.
Sometimes, fire bans and firework regulations aren’t enough on their own, she said. “The regulations are there for safety and some people just don’t feel the need to adhere to it.”
But a fire department-led fireworks show stops “kids from experimenting or doing it themselves and hopefully reduces the number of fires that occur out there,” she said.
“If they can go somewhere safe and get the same excitement and meet some friends … it’s just a much safer place all around.”
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