By LEAH WEATHERSBY

Nothing says ³Seattle² like a long summer evening at Golden Gardens Park. Sitting with a honey or close friends, enjoying the view of Puget Sound as the sun sets, and of course, staying warm next to a cozy fire.

Sadly, those fires can cause all kinds of problems on the beach, especially during the busy summer season, as the Parks Department knows all too well.

³Ever since Iıve been here, itıs been a problem,² said Fred Schauer, a maintenance man who has worked at Golden Gardens for five years. ³In one week (during the summer) we have 140 illegal fires.²

Golden Gardens is the only park in North Seattle where beach fires are allowed, and one of only two in Seattle. While fires are permitted in concrete pits at the south end of the park, many visitors wonıt hesitate to dig a hole in the sand anywhere along the beach to use as an impromptu fire pit. This method leaves charred logs and wood bits up and down the sand, making the beach dangerous to lie on or walk on with bare feet. Even the ADA-accessible area, which has benches for the elderly, isnıt spared from night-time parties as the evidence next morning attests.

Posting signs doesnıt stop illegal fires, said Parks Department spokeswoman Kathie Huus, because they usually disappear as soon as they are put up. The signs are sometimes even made into kindling.

The problem isnıt just with the fires themselves, itıs whatıs being burned in them, according to Schauer. Just wood with nails and paint is harmful, but every couple of weeks during the summer, Parks Department workers will find exotic items such as couches, wood pallets and even a large row boat, which park users have tried to burn in their fires. Even a trip down to the park on a winter morning reveals a gas can left behind from the night before.

Why would people lug theses items down to the park to burn? The motivation could be financial. The fine for illegal fires is only $28, making it cheaper in some cases to burn garbage than dump it legally.

³Right now they come down and burn anything and everything,² Schauer said.

Wood and trees that belong to the park arenıt left untouched either. Theresa McEwen, a volunteer programs coordinator with the Parks Department, said that trees planted as part of a restoration project have been turned into fire wood. Even huge logs, the size of full-grown trees, show burn marks.

Itıs easy to see how Golden Gardens could become a victim of its own popularity. On summer evenings there clearly arenıt enough fire pits to go around. Pit users confirm that beach fires are one of Golden Gardensı biggest attractions.

³(Fires are) a feature I enjoy about this particular beach,² said Lance Johnston, a Lake City resident who recently visited Golden Gardens on a chilly Saturday night (as he does three or four times a year) to have a fire with friends. ³Thatıs sort of the selling point of this park.² While visitors interviewed by the Seattle Sun couldnıt confirm the presence of large pieces of garbage found of the beach, the existence of smaller debris, such as wood with nails in them, was obvious.

Eric Lippert is part of a group of friends that hosts a party at Golden Gardens a couple of times a year. Their gatherings usually attract several hundred people. Because his group does burn scrap wood, Lippert said his friends formed cleaning groups that would sweep the area with magnets the next day, removing nails. Lippert himself has suffered from illegal fires at the beach, but doesnıt know how the problem could be solved.

³People put their fires out by burying them in a nice layer of insulating sand ‹ kick the sand off accidentally and it bursts into flame again. Iıve almost burned my feet several times over the years,² said Lippert, adding, ³how do you stop people from being stupid with fire?²

³Thatıs the million dollar question,² Schauer said.

With Golden Gardensı barbecue areas being booked months in advance for the summer, and the difficulty of enforcing rules against illegal fires, the situation is indeed daunting. In response to the growing problem, Huus said the Parks Department will start holding public meetings on the issue this spring.

³Like any long term community behavior, this will not (have) a short term or easy solution,² said Huus. ³You know that itıs going to take multiple years.²

For more information about Golden Gardens, call Kathie Huus at 233-3960.