By Gretchen Webster

WESTPORT — Beach fires are a popular amenity, and soon Westporters will be able to enjoy them with families and friends. 

Parks and Recreation Commission members supported the idea of permitting fires at the town’s waterfront during their Wednesday meeting. And, after the proposal is formalized in the next week, the panel is expected to approve permit procedures to apply for renting fire pits at Compo’s South Beach.

The plan is to make the 2025 beach season a pilot program for introducing beach fires at Compo, with two fire pits available for rental at $150 per day. 

Neighboring town, public safety officials consulted

Carmen Roda, operations manager for the Parks and Recreation Department, said that after discussing fire pits with officials in neighboring Fairfield, where permits for beach fires have been issued for years, and with Westport’s Fire and Police departments, regulations have been prepared to make the rentals safe as well as profitable for the town.

The Parks and Recreation Department would lease one fire pit per household for one day during beach season. Regulations would include requiring those issued permits to sign a hold-harmless agreement with the town, to use a specific fire starter and to bring their own wood. Hours for use of the fire pits would be 4 to 10 p.m. 

Roda addressed a range of questions about safety posed by commissioners. 

The person issued a fire pit permit will be required to be at the site at all times and have the permit in their possession, Roda said. 

A department staffer will be at the pit when the fire is started and when it is extinguished at the end of the day. Those staffers will be trained in safety guidelines by Fire Marshal Terry Dunn, he added.

“Our staff will be there. … We will continuously monitor [the fire pits] and will take safety measures as we always do.”

If a fire or beachgoers at a fire pit get out of hand, the staff will handle the situation or call authorities as they do with other disorderly incidents, Roda said.

The metal fire pits, which are about 2 to 3 feet high and 3 feet in diameter, are most likely to be used by families or small groups and not for large events, he said.

Fire pit rentals are expected to generate $23,000 in total revenue,  and net approximately $19,000 per season, after accounting for the cost of staffing the beach an extra hour and buying the fire pits.

Commissioners and some members of the public had questions about the fire pit plan, with most saying they were excited about permitting beach fires.

Commission member Gery Grove said she thought the proposal to require permit holders to cancel three weeks in advance is too long, especially in the summer when plans might change. And Elaine Whitney said a waiting list should be established to prevent permit holders from swapping dates.

Other questions considered

• How will air quality be maintained, especially on days when the state issues air-quality alerts as happened last year when smoke from Canadian wildfires affected the region? Officials said beach fires would not be permitted when there are air or fire alerts.
• How will ashes be handled after a fire is extinguished? The fire pits have metal bottoms and ashes will be emptied by the staff into metal containers.
• What if other beachgoers don’t like the fires? “We have the ability to move the fire pits based on our discretion and the number of people that are using the beach,” Roda said.

At the end of the discussion, several commission members said they felt that a few of the rules need to be refined before the commission could formally approve the program.

“We’re all in agreement that we maybe need to tighten up some of the documentation before it’s shared with the public,” said commission member Chrissy O’Keefe. “We can give the green light that we’re in favor of the concept, but not sign off on the policy rules yet.”

Since the Parks and Recreation Department needs time before beach season starts to prepare documents and for applicants to register, commission Chair David Floyd suggested holding a virtual meeting next week for the panel to officially vote on adding beach fires to this summer’s programming.

Freelance writer Gretchen Webster, a Fairfield County journalist for many years, was editor of the Fairfield Minuteman and has taught journalism at New York and Southern Connecticut State universities.