When I was a kid, before we moved up north, we lived in Bay City MI (the REAL Bay Area). Every fall, everyone raked up their leaves into a pile on the lawn, and burned them. The smell was amazing. It defined Fall for me.
The first year I owned a home in the city, and leaves to deal with, I couldn’t think what to do with them. I’d forgotten about the burning thing. Someone said “You put them in these special city bags, and they take them away”. We did that one year and it took about 25 bags. That’s crazy expensive. Now we pile them behind the garage and we’re getting some GREAT black dirt under there.
It was just last year I remembered about burning them, and realized that since no-one does it, it MUST be against the law. How very sad. I want my kids to know that smell, and have the experience of watching a pile burn. Maybe I can get my dad to burn a pile this year, though he’ll think I’m a crazy city NUT for raking them in the first place.
Same thing here, basically. No open fires within city limits without a permit. Too many houses too close together. One idiot with who thinks his leaky gasoline can is a good way to make the fire big ruins it for all of us I guess.
Where I grew up it wasn’t a big deal – but we lived in a somewhat rural area so we could “camp out” in the yard and have a fire if we wanted.