There is a thing here; a tradition if you will, a tradition that personally, I could do without. After Christmas and New Years’ some cities and towns along the coast have bonfires to signal the end of one year and the beginning of another. Scheveningen is arguably the most well-known. The folks there and a neighbouring town used to have contests to see who could have the tallest woodpile on the beach; and thus, the largest fire. The Vreugdevuur, or Happiness Fire. Here is an old foto of the wood piles looking like gopurams Southern India. A year or so ago it all went wrong, the fires were too large and the wind blew in from the sea, sending cinders showering down on the city and dunes. The sparks and cinders rained down onto the city, causing homes, autos and discarded Christmas trees waiting to be picked-up to catch fire. It was so dangerous that rules had to be changed. Ingrained traditions are difficult to break though. So now the wood piles must be much smaller and weather conditions must be safe if the fires will be allowed to burn. Of course one can always argue that it is an old tradition that is not good for the atmosphere; on the other hand, the ashes and debris are cleaned- up and the beach is again made safe and attractive for the droves of people that flock there in the summer to enjoy sunbathing, swimming and generally just having a good time. But before it can be used there is this one little thing that still needs to be done first. Are you scratching your heads and wondering what it could be? Heck, the black ash and sand as well as the other debris has all been removed. All except for one sticky problem— the thousands of nails that held the pallets together. How in the world do you find the nails, let alone remove them. You know what happens to loose change that falls into the sand when you wanted to pay for that snowcone, right? They have come up with the answer:
Texas A&M, a university, yearly had a huge bonfire before a football game with a traditional rival. One year the pile of logs collapsed during the building, killing 12 and injuring 27. The school banned the bonfire, so alumni and students moved it off campus. There ain't no cure for stupid.
Eileen, I thought that huge magnet was a stupendous idea. Jane, you are spot on with that. I keep asking myself where Darwin is when you need him.
They used to have a bonfire on the pier at Lyme Regis, again loads of nails from pallets all over the beach. Made metal detecting a nightmare You can also bet your life they didn't bother about the pallet codes. https://www.universalpallets.com/2018/01/ultimate-guide-pallet-markings/ I used to have a wood burner but I would only burn pallets that had HT or KD on them. I used a Neodymium magnet to remove the nails from the ash and filled empty bean tins with them. I'd get about 12p for a full tin from the recycling yard
What a huge problem. Great traditions were started way before the cities were built so close to the coast. Lots of info from everyone . And I do remember the college accident when the tower collapsed The Burning Man Event began in the 90’s. Wild, wacky characters, music, art, amazing designs. It’s fantastic to see from a video. All the huge and small creative builds are all burned down at the end of the event. Held in summer in Black Rock City in the desert of Nevada state. The event has been located in a temporary city erected in the Black Rock Desert about 100 miles (160 km) north-northeast of Reno, Nevada. Nothing near by but sand and more sand. The light show’s ,laser ,fireworks, computer driven light shows , drones and some wild designs for vehicles to cope with the deep sandy area.
Whoa Sjoerd. Not great on many levels. So sorry that is happening. Traditions are one thing, common sense and change is another. Nails on a beach? And embers in a town? That is a tough one.
Cayu— I use pallets to make enclosures and as the bottoms of compost piles, but have never paid attention to nails. I have no idea how many are in just one pallet but it must be several. Mel— yeah, nails on a beach. Sorta gives you the willies, doesn’t it? Bubbbbbbbb. It doesn’t bear thinking about leisurely strolling on a beach and stepping on one…or perhaps worse, plopping down on a beach banket. Ouch ! Haha. You are right though — it isn’t really a good idea, but if they do it anyway, well….it is good that there is a good method to make the area safe again.
That's an impressive and good looking solution to a worrisome situation. Nails in bare feet, not a good thing. I imagine they need to repeat several times, as waves stir up the sand. There is something primordial about bonfires. My neighbors have them regularly - brush, leaves, probably marijuana waste too. It's illegal to burn plastic, but the smell is there. Sometimes it's really polluted around here. I admit, I like it when the wind reverses and the smoke blows into their own houses (Im a bad person). In my woodstove, nails just somehow dissolve. Even the cast iron wood holding grate gradually disintegrated. I think woodstoves burn hotter than bonfires. I would be concerned about pallet wood containing toxic chemicals used as preservatives, especially heavy metals. Having cadmium in chocolate is bad enough.
Mate, I hear what you are saying. I wonder about those pallets too. Having said that they may not have preservatives because some pallets here are made to “throw away”, and then there are other pallets like the so-called “Euro pallet” which is for heavy industrial use and on which there is a highish deposit. Most businesses do not burn or give these away for they are simply too dear. My Bride laughed out loud about you being a mean person. She whole-heartedly agrees with you and declares that that and you are absolutely not mean.
Too many burn in their pastures here , mostly agriculture. The stink is enough to melt your nose. I haven’t burned in years . My burn pile has broke down into a sweet bio island all on its own. 28-35’. Flowers twigs shrubs grow thruout the growing season. In fact it doesn’t look like a burn pile .. unless it’s a close up view. And no water all in summer. Kind of unique in a way. Burning is so bad top air pollution here. I only burn my wood stove only when power is out.
Wow, those bonfires were big! I'm still trying to get my head around the fact they never thought about which way the wind blew and how strong it was. We do midsummer bonfires here in Norway. They used to be small ones, but big enough to be spectacular. In town there used to be a bonfire competition to see who could build the tallest one. Most of those local ones are gone. There's only one left now, and it's usually big. They're not allowed to light it if the weather's not right.
