WEST SEATTLE SCENE: Fire rings return to Alki Beach

Thanks to David Hutchinson for the photo. Seattle Parks is bringing fire rings back to Alki Beach today, just before the official start of summer season. Saturday is the first day fires will be allowed, according to Parks’ recent early-closure announcement. (For a recap of beach-fire rules, go here.)

20 Replies to "WEST SEATTLE SCENE: Fire rings return to Alki Beach"

  • Jethro Marx May 24, 2023 (2:58 pm)

    These contraptions have always made me laugh. Only in our country would we think of locking up the fire ring as a way to prevent unauthorized bonfires. That old pallet some knucklehead hauled down to the beach is still gonna burn, it just won’t be contained. We had better spent the money on sprinklers.

    On the other hand, the complete lack of creativity or elegance in the design of this public infrastructure has always made me sad. Cool redox though!

    • Josh May 24, 2023 (3:34 pm)

      These work quite well to limit the fire sites on the beach. Just take a deep breath and move along buddy. 

      • Adam May 25, 2023 (6:38 am)

        I run almost daily at Alki, year round. There are always fires. Don’t be so weirdly and unnecessarily offended by someone’s comment that had nothing to do with you. 

      • AW June 1, 2023 (8:12 pm)

        Hear hear. 

    • Ryan May 25, 2023 (10:11 am)

      Gonna guess you’re the kind of guy not invited to beach fires.They’re better than nothing. Stop complaining. Thanks for the update. 

      • Jethro Marx May 25, 2023 (12:33 pm)

        “Better than nothing” is something of a failure for a product designer.  I’m not sure how long you and Josh have been around Alki, but people just build fires on top of them when they’re locked up, and we’re not really short on people giving out pointless orders in the comments. 

        P.S. I would love to be invited to a beach fire! But I may have complaints. Fewer complaints, though, if your fire were in a sweet Dahlia sphere like this:  

  • Rhonda May 24, 2023 (5:31 pm)

    Let the coughing begin.

  • RT May 24, 2023 (6:56 pm)

    Still don’t know why fires have to be part of enjoying the beach, and why we continue to let them burn, polluting the air of all uphill residents.  Just when you’d like to have some windows open for a breeze at the end of a hot summer day, we’re all on lock down to prevent asthma attacks.  Confining the  area and number of fires with these pits doesn’t help much. Many other municipalities have kiboshed such smoke generation. 

    • Gaslit May 25, 2023 (9:48 am)

      It’s a public beach/park. A lot of beaches all over the country have fire pits & rings. I bet if you go to your doctor, you won’t get any sort of empirical evidence that beach bonfires are creating adult onset asthma while you’re in your closed home. 

    • JT May 25, 2023 (1:10 pm)

      Agreed that we cannot continue to burn wood.  The romance is gone.. replaced by climate change.

  • Guy Olson May 24, 2023 (8:03 pm)

    I just bought a house next to Sea-Tac, the jet noise is unbearable!

    • T May 24, 2023 (9:44 pm)

      Thanks Guy! You nailed it :)

  • rob May 24, 2023 (8:10 pm)

     Hey RT give a rest this has been going on for years . you must be new in town. i did it way back when i was in high school an many generations have followed

    • flimflam May 24, 2023 (9:36 pm)

      Maybe. but that doesn’t make it right or smart. I’ve never understood summer bonfires – sweating next to a big, smokey fire when its 75* is just silly.

  • Admiral May 24, 2023 (10:12 pm)

    flimflam – It’s basic primal instinct, fire protected our ancestors from predators and it is still an engrained into our sychy.  

  • April May 25, 2023 (10:15 am)

    Yes!! Finally!! Its Summer time in West Seattle, Bonfires at the beach is a tradition and its not going away!!! Cant wait!

  • Beacher May 25, 2023 (12:58 pm)

    It’s usually snowflakes who can’t stand the heat, and understandably so. LOL!
    Like it or not, bonfires are a huge part of human culture, and I’m always okay with whatever containment measures are taken.

  • Rick May 25, 2023 (1:20 pm)

    Wait, are beach residents complaining about…beaches being…used? Come on now. It’s not your private beach!

  • Todd anderson May 26, 2023 (3:21 pm)

    Well not sure it was “beach residents” saying they want Alki to be a private beach so much as it was a complaint about summer fires on the beach. I sort of agree that they are a nice feature of the beach (I live on Alki ave) but aren’t you the same person that always comments about locals thinking Alki is a private beach?

Sorry, comment time is over.