Neighbor is Burning Trash

[gqchris]

So I have the neighbor that backs up against me is burning trash on a daily basis. This evenings haul is a chopped up piece of Furniture, Formica, with the fake wood laminate. Needless to say, it is extremely toxic smelling and infiltrating the whole neighborhood. I usually don't make a big deal about things, but I have a baby, and this shit cant be healthy. And they arent using this for recreational like the rest of us that enjoy a good firepit. Its always unattended.

Background. I live in Huntington Beach. This offending house is multi generational, 20 people probably live in it, with a Cholo son that try's to be the spokesperson. I have tried to go over and explain that I am on the downwind side and this is affecting us. They refuse to open door. I left a note. No response.

Tonight I finally had it, called the non emergency line for PD, they said its a fire thing. Called non emergency fire, they were happy to roll a crew over and check on the fire. Needless to say, these clowns didn't open for fire dept to chat with them either. Why does that not surprise me? So Fire dept said obviously cant make entry unless active structure. I totally understand. And that's that.

So now I sit here typing with my throat on fire, lungs burning.

Am I just hosed? No pun intended! What would the inmates do besides ramming shopping carts into their house!

 

[fmo24]

Can you hose down the fire from your backyard? Or big fan and hope the fire blows into their structure lol

 

[CLdrinker]

Tie a glow stick to your dick and go try knocking on the door.

 

[gqchris]

Can you hose down the fire from your backyard? Or big fan and hope the fire blows into their structure lol

Yes I thought about that, but then I get downwind and all the fumes with it!

 

[WhatExit?]

Costco has the big Dewalt floor fans on sale. Can you put one up on your fence and blow some of the toxins back at the illegal trash fire house?

 

[Marios Metalworks]

Is there some regulatory agency that would like to make an example of this type of action?

 

[4Waters]

Is there some regulatory agency that would like to make an example of this type of action?

CARB
AQMD

 

[Riley1]

So I have the neighbor that backs up against me is burning trash on a daily basis. This evenings haul is a chopped up piece of Furniture, Formica, with the fake wood laminate. Needless to say, it is extremely toxic smelling and infiltrating the whole neighborhood. I usually don't make a big deal about things, but I have a baby, and this shit cant be healthy. And they arent using this for recreational like the rest of us that enjoy a good firepit. Its always unattended.

Background. I live in Huntington Beach. This offending house is multi generational, 20 people probably live in it, with a Cholo son that try's to be the spokesperson. I have tried to go over and explain that I am on the downwind side and this is affecting us. They refuse to open door. I left a note. No response.

Tonight I finally had it, called the non emergency line for PD, they said its a fire thing. Called non emergency fire, they were happy to roll a crew over and check on the fire. Needless to say, these clowns didn't open for fire dept to chat with them either. Why does that not surprise me? So Fire dept said obviously cant make entry unless active structure. I totally understand. And that's that.

So now I sit here typing with my throat on fire, lungs burning.

Am I just hosed? No pun intended! What would the inmates do besides ramming shopping carts into their house!

This country has gone to shit. Nothing can be done but fleeing to greener pastures, which will also soon be overrun and turned to shit.

I’ve not been in the most optimistic mood today. lol.

 

[LazyLavey]

Call the city code enforcement... HB may have a muni code regarding your situation.. If so PD or city should step in regarding the muni code violation..

I would assume they've got some provision re burning trash in a yard

Outdoor Residential Waste Burning | California Air Resources Board

Final Regulation Order Airborne Toxic Control Measure to Reduce Emissions of

ww2.arb.ca.gov

https://www.ocfa.org/Uploads/CommunityRiskReduction/Fire%20Code%20-%20County%20of%20Orange.pdf

Ask FD to get a look at their yard and whats going on from your property...

 

[gqchris]

Tie a glow stick to your dick and go try knocking on the door.

I knew that was coming!

 

[TrollerDave]

. Needless to say, these clowns didn't open for fire dept to chat with them either. Why does that not surprise me? So Fire dept said obviously cant make entry unless active structure. I totally understand. And that's that.

Light their house on fire.
Voilà. Active structure fire

Just kidding. Don’t do that.
The best legal recourse is through the city.

 

[Xtrmwakeboarder]

…..how is that not against the law in HB? I’d think they’d be all over it.

 

[gqchris]

This country has gone to shit. Nothing can be done but fleeing to greener pastures, which will also soon be overrun and turned to shit.

I’ve not been in the most optimistic mood today. lol.

Im with ya brother. Tried to have a steak at Mastros earlier and the baby, who was doing fine, took one of those shits that pretty much blows out up the back and all! Needless to say, dinner was over and kid was screaming and we left with all food to go! Then we get home and it smells like TJ with burning tires! Wasnt happy to say the least.

Good news is I should have your plates in mail by next week. Truck is coming this way on Friday Appreciate it Sir!

 

[JayBreww]

CARB
AQMD

I second this. AQMD. No milled lumber.

 

[gqchris]

…..how is that not against the law in HB? I’d think they’d be all over it.

I figured as much as well, but PD said in a nutshell its the Fire Depts issue.

 

[gqchris]

I second this. AQMD. No milled lumber.

I am on this guys, appreciate it. Looking up now.

 

[Javajoe]

Code compliance issue. Call the City. Big violation

 

[monkeyswrench]

For temporary help...for your family...depending on your HVAC setup, you may be able to turn the fan only on. It kind of "pressurizes" the house.
With my old house it worked when I'd light off a car in the garage.

If I lived closer, I'd drop off my 48" shop fans. They move enough air, but your other neighbors may be pissed.

 

[gqchris]

CARB
AQMD

Thanks Fellas, that was easy.

Smoke- Dust- Odor

If you smell a strong odor or see a lot of dust or smoke in your neighborhood, you can report the problem to South Coast AQMD.

www.aqmd.gov

 

[gqchris]

Ap

For temporary help...for your family...depending on your HVAC setup, you may be able to turn the fan only on. It kind of "pressurizes" the house.
With my old house it worked when I'd light off a car in the garage.

If I lived closer, I'd drop off my 48" shop fans. They move enough air, but your other neighbors may be pissed.

Appreciate it sir. Yes we have been running the fan we have central air but its been so nice and cool that we had windows open. Bad move!

 

[4Waters]

Thanks Fellas, that was easy.

Smoke- Dust- Odor

If you smell a strong odor or see a lot of dust or smoke in your neighborhood, you can report the problem to South Coast AQMD.

www.aqmd.gov

Rule 402 as well

 

[FROGMAN524]

Time for ICE ICE baby. As in, la migra

 

[monkeyswrench]

Ap

Appreciate it sir. Yes we have been running the fan we have central air but its been so nice and cool that we had windows open. Bad move!

With all the crap I've inhaled, from construction and cars, toxic fumes never bothered me. (Maybe lost some brain cells, but wasn't using them anyway) Wife and kids...now it bothers me because I know it's bad for them.

 

[LHC Kirby]

Rule 402 as well

View attachment 1103161

Great find 4W

Try and get neighbors to co-sign a complaint to the city

 

[hallett21]

I would document every time they burn anything. Take photos (ideally with time stamps) and submit to code enforcement.

If that doesn’t get you anywhere unfortunately I’d probably start calling 911. Were at a point where you need to play the game with emergency services.

I don’t mean that as a dig against Fire, LEO or EMS. Just what the citizens are left with.

 

[DWC]

I got a beer on no agency will show up. Weather is too nice..

 

[$hot]

Call 911, not the non emergency. emergencies are relative to the caller, so make it one. unfortunately the squeaky wheel gets the grease

 

[LargeOrangeFont]

I got a beer on no agency will show up. Weather is too nice..

This whole thread should have gone in the I Love Southern California thread

 

[Angler]

Fly a drone over the yard, tape the crap they are burning.

Try dropping a few exploded baby diapers over the fence...

 

[02HoWaRd26]

Simple, next time call 911 and say it smells like they are burning a corpse.

 

[Roosky01]

Just burn some tires in your back yard. Might as well escalate it to the point where you just whip your dicks out and measure them to see who gets to piss on who and skip all the small talk...

 

[yz450mm]

If they don't have a burn permit, which they obviously don't, then anything other than a cooking fire is classified as an illegal burn.

Fire department can absolutely have Huntington Beach PD come out and give them access to the backyard to see what they are burning. Fire can then issue the ticket, starting the paper trail.

 

[PRIMO]

Title 14 California Health & Safety Code
This will be considered illegal burning / and responding agencies are allowed to directly bill the offender for services rendered / this should be your Best course of action / call 911 report an illegal burning .....

 

[PRIMO]

Hit ‘em where it hurts - in the pocketbook !

 

[TimeBandit]

Move.

There is no good outcome.

Brown lives matter.

 

[Blue Oval]

80 year old lady lived in front of us when I moved back in to town. She waited until dark to burn her garbage in her garage Wood stove. We would go to bed with the windows open and a nice breeze from the lake across the street. We would wake up to a house full of burnt garbage. That would be in the top 5 of nasty smells. I walked over and knocked on her door. Told her the garage had smoke coming from it. She said-I know, I’m burning my garbage. I stayed calm and gave her my thoughts. But I offered to help her with her garbage and told her she could use my business dumpster if she could not afford garbage pick up. She sadly passed away and they tore down her house and put in a Credit Union. The Credit Union has not interrupted my sleep one time.

 

[$hot]

new idea, get a spud cannon fill it fill of shit and fire away

 

[hawgty55]

Call and write the mayor. Had an illegal grow going on a couple doors down. Every agency would just pass it on to the other. My wife just escalated it above all them. my kids air and quality of life and within 3 days the cops had it torn down and a personal call from the mayor.

 

[jet496]

Code compliance, the city, county, police, etc. are impotent, totally 100% worthless. Even if laws are being broken for some reason they cannot enforce them, the laws seem to protect the violators. All you'll do is start a war with your neighbor. Just be glad they can't do that on a regular basis. At least I'm assuming they can't burn anytime they want here in CA.

 

[4Waters]

Just be glad they can't do that on a regular basis. At least I'm assuming they can't burn anytime they want here in CA.

No, they can't burn whenever they want but it sounds like they are unfortunately

 

[DrunkenSailor]

My great grandpa had an incinerator in his backyard in downtown orange for burning trash. Just another example of how society has gotten soft.

I'm obviously kidding nothing smells worse than burning garbage. Call ice tell them you thought you saw one of their most wanted from the website at the house. Pick a good spot to watch.

 

[boatdoc55]

My great grandpa had an incinerator in his backyard in downtown orange for burning trash. Just another example of how society has gotten soft.

I'm obviously kidding nothing smells worse than burning garbage. Call ice tell them you thought you saw one of their most wanted from the website at the house. Pick a good spot to watch.

As I remember, every house on our street had incinerators in the back yard in Orange. Hell, they even let people build boats in Orange County back then but this is before pussies invaded Orange County and the big money people started calling the shots. To bad few of you guys remember Orange County as it WAS.

 

[Joe mama]

Sux being in that situation.

 

[Blue Oval]

Code compliance

Funny thing with my little old lady neighbor. It is against city ordinances to have a burning barrel for garbage in the city limits. No rule against burning garbage in your wood stove in your garage. LOL. She was a pretty smart old lady.

 

[Desert Whaler]

I'm in HB too . . . there's no way in hell that's legal.
PD & FD are just being lazy fucks.
Pisses me the fuck off, . . .fuckin FD sittin on their asses in recliners back at the station making $200K a year workin 10 days a month.
Sounds like you're gonna have to get your voice heard, maybe shoot some quick video clips and get signatures from the neighbors . . .make a few copies and take that shit down to code enforcement . . . if that doesn't do it, I'd plan a trip to a city council meeting, (the ones that are video recorded and televised) and get up on the open mic and make a stink.
In the meantime, I'd 100% do what was mentioned above and put the power nozzle on the garden hose and put that shit out.
I'd let the cops come arrest me no problem .
With all the CARB / AQMD shit going on in this state ,HB does NOT want more bad publicity.
My neighbor knows someone that works for one of the news networks . . . if you still don't get anywhere with this, shoot me a DM and I'll see if I can get his number, and maybe they'd be interested.
I'd be coming UNGLUED if I were you, ESPECIALLY if I had a kid.

We had a neighbor problem for YEARS.
Basically it was just an arguing/ fighting couple drunk late at night.
Cops couldn't really do shit, till he beat her up really bad once, finally divorced him and split to Florida.

Best of Luck and keep us posted.

 

[monkeyswrench]

My great grandpa had an incinerator in his backyard in downtown orange for burning trash. Just another example of how society has gotten soft.

I'm obviously kidding nothing smells worse than burning garbage. Call ice tell them you thought you saw one of their most wanted from the website at the house. Pick a good spot to watch.

I wonder if back in the day the trash didn't smell as bad burning? No foam meat trays, no disposable diapers, etc...table scraps that the dog didn't get, cardboard and butcher paper? Never gave it much thought till now.

 

[4Waters]

I wonder if back in the day the trash didn't smell as bad burning? No foam meat trays, no disposable diapers, etc...table scraps that the dog didn't get, cardboard and butcher paper? Never gave it much thought till now.

Lot of synthetics and plastics in trash now

 

[havasujeeper]

In the city I worked at, on Friday nights they would throw all the shielded copper wire they stole onto the fire to burn off the plastic, because the recycling centers would pay more for raw copper. It was a Friday night ritual in preparation for the recycling shops on Saturday morning. Third world country shit, for sure.

 

[Lumpy]

Several years ago I had an almost identical issue with a neighbor/renter...it turned into a two year war that seemed to never end. There are some great ideas on here so far but most likely won't get any traction...heres was ya do.

Find out who owns the house
Talk to the surrounding neighbors and create a "phone tree"
Do they have dogs?
Do your homework on all the ordinances/laws on burning and anything else you can think of that may help

Now, You need to make this a neighborhood issue not a neighbor issue. If you go barking up all the different government entities of
the city it will get you nowhere...they will consider is a neighbor squabble and do nothing...if all of your neighbors get involved and are blowing
up the cities phones then you got something they will have to deal with. Deal with this strategically and tactfully...don't let your emotions get the best of you.
I'd start by reaching out to the owner...if the owner lives on the property move on rallying the neighborhood.

My situation ended with animal regulation of all things...we used his dogs to get him out but were preparing a class action law suit against the owner of the property
for public nuisance. A class action suit has a lot of teeth in its nature...a monetary value for each person living in each household around the nuisance.

The "Phone Tree" is a lovely thing....it will drive the City batshit crazy.

 

[nordictom]

So I have the neighbor that backs up against me is burning trash on a daily basis. This evenings haul is a chopped up piece of Furniture, Formica, with the fake wood laminate. Needless to say, it is extremely toxic smelling and infiltrating the whole neighborhood. I usually don't make a big deal about things, but I have a baby, and this shit cant be healthy. And they arent using this for recreational like the rest of us that enjoy a good firepit. Its always unattended.

Background. I live in Huntington Beach. This offending house is multi generational, 20 people probably live in it, with a Cholo son that try's to be the spokesperson. I have tried to go over and explain that I am on the downwind side and this is affecting us. They refuse to open door. I left a note. No response.

Tonight I finally had it, called the non emergency line for PD, they said its a fire thing. Called non emergency fire, they were happy to roll a crew over and check on the fire. Needless to say, these clowns didn't open for fire dept to chat with them either. Why does that not surprise me? So Fire dept said obviously cant make entry unless active structure. I totally understand. And that's that.

So now I sit here typing with my throat on fire, lungs burning.

Am I just hosed? No pun intended! What would the inmates do besides ramming shopping carts into their house!

Just escalate it to HB Code Enforcement. I have had a lot of experience with them . If they don't want to help out, our (Your) City Attorney Michael Gates is very accessible. the more documentation you have, the better. If you are on the HB Facebook pages, post it up, tag him, he will usually answer, and as a plus; is it humiliates the wrong doers. Never know, others in your neighbor hood my be pissed off also. worked in my neighborhood. MF'r got the message , and quit messing with me.

NT.