My neighbor burning his lawn

reesespbc

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I'm sitting here and I smell smoke. I had a candle lit in the other room on the stove, and it wasn't that, so I had my wife come in and ask her opinion. She smelled it too and thought the computer was overheating (I have a few large Torrent files downloading, you never know!
). I look over and see smoke blowing through my yard. I look out the window and see small flames. Holy crap! So I go to the next room that has a window facing in that direction, and my neighbor is walking around with a propane tank and a torch attachment, setting fire to his lawn, right along the edge of mine.

I open the window and yell to him to ask what the hell he's doing. Now first I should say that this is one of those neighbors who doesn't take care of their lawn. When they cut it, they scalp it, it's overrun with weeds, and the last time I actually saw him cut it was about a week after I had my lawn Hydroseeded last year. The rest of the summer he didn't cut it and it overgrew and is just a mess now. Apparently what he said he was doing is burning the grass because it won't grow, and this will allow it to grow again (it was growing pretty good during the summer...), then he'll rake it up and put down weed pre-emmergent and it will grow.

I'm not a landscaper, aside from mowing I hire someone to take care of my lawn with fertalizer and other treatments, but I have NEVER heard of this practice. I asked if he had a permit and he said that the fire department allows you to do it as long as you tell them that you are. Again
I'm worried now because he's right at my property line and I have no fence or anything else dividing our properties that he's going to burn the edge of my lawn. He said he'd be careful, but you never know.

I am just seriously confused by some people..
 

hopehacker

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I'd be more frightened of a spark or ember blowing in the direction of my house and catcing it on fire. I find it hard to believe that the fire department would allow such a thing.
 

momofmany

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People who live in the country in grassland burn their fields on a regular basis. The fire rejuvenates the soil and allows the natural seeds to sprout up.

I would never dream of doing this in a town or city. But I have done it in the country.

Is this guy from a rural area by chance?
 
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reesespbc

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Originally Posted by HopeHacker

I'd be more frightened of a spark or ember blowing in the direction of my house and catcing it on fire. I find it hard to believe that the fire department would allow such a thing.
I'm not really worried about it because the flames are low to the ground and he's doing it in small sections and they don't stay lit for long. Like he'll burn a small 10"x10" area, stomp it out, repeat somewhere else.

Our lawn might not be perfectly manicured or anything but we took out a loan to have it redone last year, so I'm pretty protective over it. Besides, he has leaves and other crap blow into my yard all the time so I've about had it up to here.
 
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reesespbc

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Originally Posted by Momofmany

People who live in the country in grassland burn their fields on a regular basis. The fire rejuvenates the soil and allows the natural seeds to sprout up.

I would never dream of doing this in a town or city. But I have done it in the country.

Is this guy from a rural area by chance?
We're in a small town in massachusetts, not really country or big city. He's lived in the house I think for the last 12 years. Not sure if he lived in a rural at any other time or not.
 

cococat

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Really helps the lawn. I wouldn't worry too much. I live in rural area and people do it all the time.
 
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reesespbc

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Well he's not doing it now. I just hope he pays attention and keeps it on his side.

I understand now that it does help, but I'm confused as to why he's bothering. His lawn is past the point of help, he'd be best to just have it replanted.
 

babyharley

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I've never heard of that before, maybe he's really gonna take care of his lawn now?
 
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reesespbc

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Originally Posted by babyharley

I've never heard of that before, maybe he's really gonna take care of his lawn now?
I still say it's not going to matter. His lawn is overrun with weeds and a mix of so many types of grass mutations that he needs to just start over. But I don't care about that, as long as he can keep weeds from invading my lawn, and actually rake leaves and stop trash from blowing into my yard, I'll be happy.
 

natalie_ca

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2 things.

Go out and hose down your lawn with water...soak it good.

Call the fire department. He shouldn't be allowed to burn his lawn, especially so close to other dwellings.
 
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reesespbc

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Originally Posted by Natalie_ca

2 things.

Go out and hose down your lawn with water...soak it good.

Call the fire department. He shouldn't be allowed to burn his lawn, especially so close to other dwellings.
I may call the fire department just to make sure, although he's not doing it now. My problem with soaking down the area of my lawn is, well all our hoses are put away so I'd have to drag them out. But beyond that, I don't know when the next time he's going to do it is. In order for me to soak down my lawn in preperation for the next time, I'd have to know in advance..and lets face it, I shouldn't have to waste my time and money on my water bill just so he can scorch his lawn.
 

natalie_ca

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Originally Posted by Bonnie1965

You need a fence
. Sounds like you live next door to "that neighbor" that every neighborhood seems to have!
haha, isn't that true!

My brother owns a house in the city and not long after he bought it he found that all of the neighbours had raised their yards up and that all of the melting snow and rain pooled in his back yard and his neighbours as their's were the only 2 yards that hadn't been built up. The water was damaging the foundation of the house and flooding his basement.

After a few years he decided to build up his yard too and at the same time decided to put in a nice cedar fence instead of the ugly wood one that was there.

Now cedar is not cheap, and he loves the look of natural unpainted cedar, so that's what he wanted his fence to be. His neighbour at that time said that she didn't mind him building a new fence but that she was going to paint the side of it that faced her property. My brother didn't like that idea at all! He's spending thousands on cedar to build a fence and he didn't want it messed up with paint. So his solution?

He had a land survey done and built the fence 6 inches into his property which meant that if his neighbour tried to paint the fence she would have to reach into his yard and would be tresspassing, LOL

Was she ever mad! Not only about that but because now all of the flooding water in the neighbourhood was going to be pooling into her back yard alone because she hadn't raised up her back yard.

She eventually moved and my brother gets along fabulously with his new neighbours. They help each other out with tasks and such.
 

catsrnmom

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Having been through a house fire myself, I would be just LIVID!!!! I know that it may help his lawn, but he should not be allowed to do it if there are other dwellings so close to him...I have seen people do this when there is nothing around them..I would think that if the fire dept. gave him permission to do this then they should be onsite to observe as a precaution if things get out of hand..
 

beandip

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I can't see that being legal anywhere but a truly rural area.

Some dumb kids threw a firecracker out of a car window last year, it landed on my neighbor's front lawn. The fire spread from the sidewalk to within 5 feet of his front door in a matter of seconds. Luckily we got it out before it touched the house. That would scare the $&*t out of me to see someone PURPOSELY burn grass, so close to my house.
 
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reesespbc

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Originally Posted by Natalie_ca

haha, isn't that true!

My brother owns a house in the city and not long after he bought it he found that all of the neighbours had raised their yards up and that all of the melting snow and rain pooled in his back yard and his neighbours as their's were the only 2 yards that hadn't been built up. The water was damaging the foundation of the house and flooding his basement.

After a few years he decided to build up his yard too and at the same time decided to put in a nice cedar fence instead of the ugly wood one that was there.

Now cedar is not cheap, and he loves the look of natural unpainted cedar, so that's what he wanted his fence to be. His neighbour at that time said that she didn't mind him building a new fence but that she was going to paint the side of it that faced her property. My brother didn't like that idea at all! He's spending thousands on cedar to build a fence and he didn't want it messed up with paint. So his solution?

He had a land survey done and built the fence 6 inches into his property which meant that if his neighbour tried to paint the fence she would have to reach into his yard and would be tresspassing, LOL

Was she ever mad! Not only about that but because now all of the flooding water in the neighbourhood was going to be pooling into her back yard alone because she hadn't raised up her back yard.

She eventually moved and my brother gets along fabulously with his new neighbours. They help each other out with tasks and such.
Well, here you legally can't put a fence on your property line. I don't know how many feet in it has to be exactly though. A friend in the next town said 4 feet, and my other neighbor who has a fence up has it about 2 feet from the property line. I don't like it because he mows on that side of the fence, as technically it's his property. But in the process, he mows some of my grass too, which isn't that big of a deal, but it looks kind of odd if I haven't mowed yet, and then I have a fence, an area of mowed grass, and then my lawn.

Anyway, I decided to call the fire department anyway. It turns out that

1) He never called for a permit.

and

2) They'd never give him a permit anyway. The law is, you have to be atleast 75' away from ANY structure when burning something. My house is only about 25' away from his property line. His house isn't even 75' away from where he was burning, so even if I wasn't there he was still breaking the law.

They said I could either call if I saw him doing it again, or they might try and send someone by to talk to him, because by the time I called he wasn't doing it anymore. I feel bad starting anything, especially after I talked to him, he'd know it was me who complained. He's always been nice to me, but in this situation, he's being an idiot.
 

ssmith0385

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Wow that sounds scary. I'm glad you called the fire department. As an aside, our Property professor says that in most places you can't put a fence ON your property line..it has to be on your own property. Otherwise, you have to get an easement. But then again, I'm not a stellar Law student or anything and property was my worst grade LOL
 
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reesespbc

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Originally Posted by SSmith0385

Wow that sounds scary. I'm glad you called the fire department. As an aside, our Property professor says that in most places you can't put a fence ON your property line..it has to be on your own property. Otherwise, you have to get an easement. But then again, I'm not a stellar Law student or anything and property was my worst grade LOL
Yeah, as I said here you can't do that. It has to be a certain amount of feet away from the property line. The reason is just in case you have to maintain that side, you're not trespassing on others property.
 
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