July 22, 2015 Article

The Old Coot is all fired up.

By Merlin Lessler

I started a small bonfire the other day. I didn’t really need it; it’s not like I was cold and wanted to get warm or my stove wasn’t working and I needed to cook my dinner. No, I just did it to exercise my right to fire, before it’s taken away completely.

We, us humans, have been using fire for 300,000 years according to a consensus of anthropologists, longer if you include our ancestor, Homo Erectus. Our forefathers missed the boat when the Declaration of Independence was drafted. Oh sure, they did a good job asserting the rights of citizens in a properly governed society. But, they should have added “fire” to the list of unalienable rights, …..that among them are Life, Liberty, the Pursuit of Happiness and the use of fire. But, they didn’t, and now our right to fire is threatened by creeping regulation. “We’re not to be trusted with it,” so say our state and federal politicians and bureaucrats. 

It hurts, this loss of the right to use fire as we so choose. Fire is the primary reason for our long and successful evolutionary history. This love affair, this need for fire, has been with us so long it’s now hard wired into our genetic code (300,000 years of fire freedom). Even my own personal history with fire, though short compared to modern human history, has significance; it started when I was a little kid; its mystery was revealed when I threw a stick into the flames and it smoked, charred, and finally disappeared. Then came toasted marshmallows and roasted hot dogs. And finally, the aroma of leaves burning in my neighborhood every fall. Oh, I so miss that smell. But it’s not to be. It’s against the law!    

Sit around a campfire with a youngster and watch the genetic code kick in. We grownups say, “Don’t play with the fire!” Ten seconds later, the kid is standing just beyond the heat, holding a stick in the flames, gasping in awe as it combusts. It can’t be stiffled; the flames are a magnet. But no more. The state has compromised our unalienable right to fire. After 300,000 years of freedom, the bureaucrats in Albany and Washington have declared, “Enough is enough!” 

I know! I’m starting to sound like an anti-government nut. I probably am, to a degree, but I just thought we should pause and observe the intrusion as we head deep into summer, the season of bonfires. There are now 12 rules regulating a New Yorker’s use of fire (a few less if you live in a town that has a population under 20,000. Apparently, people living in small towns are better with fire than those in big towns). I’m not trying to get you all fired up over this, (excuse the pun). I’m just trying to suggest you enjoy a bonfire while you still can. Just make sure the flames don’t lick higher than 36 inches, spread wider than 4 feet or contain any leaves, or else you’ll violate the New York State fire rules and be in big trouble with the DEC. If you are going through town and smell smoke with a “leaf burning” tinge, come join me in fire freedom, and S’mores of course.