MISSION BEACH (KGTV) — County Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer and Council President Joe LaCava have partnered to allocate $135,000 from a county grant program to save Mission Beach's fire pits through 2026, following Mayor Todd Gloria's proposal to remove them as a cost-cutting measure.
The funding will preserve the popular beach amenity that was targeted for removal in the Mayor's April budget proposal, which aimed to address the City's $258M deficit.
Gloria proposed eliminating fire pits from next year's budget to save $135,000. It also came as part of an overall $2.2M cut to the Parks and Recreation department, which is responsible for managing the fire pits.
ABC 10News asked the City's Parks and Recreation department what the pros and cons of removing the fire pits are, and here's their response:
Potential Benefits of Removing Fire Rings
- Removal of the fire rings could improve the quality of life for nearby residents, commercial businesses, and visitors to beach areas. The fire rings tend to draw noisy crowds. Removing the fire rings may reduce the number of late-night gatherings and illicit activities in beach areas.
- Many fire rings are in areas with restricted line of sight from roadways and parking lots, which creates significant enforcement challenges for the San Diego Police Department. Removal of the fire rings could improve enforcement of illegal fires and associated late-night gatherings, as any wood fires burning on the beach would be prohibited.
- Removal of the fire ring program and associated personnel will eliminate the need for routine maintenance of over 180 city-provided fire rings. Routine maintenance is currently conducted on a weekly or bi-weekly basis. It includes cleaning out the fire rings, removing graffiti from the rings, and replacing broken or damaged rings as needed.
- Removal of the fire rings may result in an improvement in air quality and odor for residents and businesses located downwind of fire rings.
- Visitors may continue to bring portable propane-fueled devices to beach areas.
Potential Drawbacks of Removing Fire Rings
- Removal of fire rings may increase illegal fires. However, illicit fires may be easier to enforce given that any wood fires burning on the beach would now be illegal since they are not contained within a city-provided fire ring.
- Removal of the fire rings may result in increased trash/debris/remnants of illegal fires in beach areas, resulting in increased maintenance and cleanup. In many instances, the debris left from illegal fires could present safety concerns with the public as many fires utilize wood pallets as fuel leaving screws, nails, and other scrap metal behind.
"The current alternative of utilizing propane-fueled devices in the place of wood-burning fires will remain an option," Benny Cartwright, supervising PIO with the City of San Diego said.
However, now that Lawson-Remer, who serves as Acting Chair of the County Board of Supervisors, is offering $135,000 from the County’s D3 Community Enhancement Grant Program to fund the maintenance of the City’s beach fire rings, everything will remain as is.
"I believe in protecting the places that bring us together. These fire pits are part of our shared story as San Diegans - places where people connect across generations and backgrounds,” Lawson-Remer said in her press release. “This offer is about giving the community time to come together around a long-term solution, without losing an asset that matters so much to our region."
ABC 10News went to Mission Beach for reaction to this news.
Mark Mattas, who was enjoying a bonfire at Mission Beach with his family to celebrate his niece's graduation on Friday, expressed relief at the news.
"Don't take them away," Mattas said. "When you light that fire, everybody comes and sits around it, and they enjoy it. It's the best time."
While many San Diegans are excited that the beach tradition will continue as a public amenity, not all residents of Mission Beach are pleased with the decision.
Martin Zimmerman, a long-time Mission Beach resident, said "There's another side to this story."
Zimmerman has concerns about the environmental and health impacts of the fire pits because the public often abuses them.
"The issue with the fire pits is all that smoke blows downwind to someone like me," Zimmerman said.
Zimmerman reports that the most significant impact he and his family have felt is on their own health, mainly having trouble with breathing. Zimmerman said he and his wife and children have been to numerous doctors' appointments over the years to get their lungs checked out, and they've received troubling diagnoses.
Disclaimer: ABC 10News is not making a direct link between the fire pits and Zimmerman's diagnoses.
Zimmerman may have discovered the root of the problem: the trash found in the fire pits.
"Scooters, scooter batteries, computers, printers, chairs, furniture, ..." Zimmerman said.
Zimmerman shared photos of the thick, black smoke emanating from the fire pits at night. He showed the black smoke stains on his porch deck and front of his house, which he claims to have had tested to prove it was soot.
He also noted that the fire pits often become sites for late-night disturbances and altercations. The morning after, they found broken items, burning coals, and other hazards around the fire pits, making it dangerous for people at the beach to walk on.
"We're not against the fire pits per se, we're just against the pollution that they import on the environment," Zimmerman said.
Zimmerman offers an alternative solution, what he said is "a fair replacement for wood where no one will lose their fire pit experience.”
"We're saying make them propane or some other clean fuel that will be less of an environmental impact," Zimmerman said.
Sadly, Zimmerman said that he is now looking to move out of Mission Beach.
Zimmerman used his savings to build his home on the beachfront in the 1970s, and one of the reasons he loved his time there was being able to enjoy the fire pits. However, the abuse of the fire pits over the years is slowly forcing him out of his home of more than thirty years. Zimmerman adds that the housing market has not made it easy on him finding a new home soon enough.
In the meantime, Zimmerman is asking Lawson-Remer to help address the abuse of the fire pits, as part of her efforts to save them entirely.
Zimmerman is asking for a response from Lawson-Remer. He said, "Terra, we contacted you several years ago. We tried to approach you about this. We've been ghosted; we've received no response. We've been working on this issue for eight years, and the Mission Beach Council has voted on this five times to either ban them, remove them, or enforce the laws. I'd really love for you to research this and the health issues it's causing. Please don't just pay for this and not worry about the locals breathing all this in."
