That is flippin scary watching it getting bigger and bigger.
WAs the firepit covered? Or open??
Stupid idiot guest. Wonder if she was drinking and passed out?!!
Kona the fire pit was uncovered.
I think you became your own guardian angel by installing those CCTVs
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Oh my lord, this is my worst nightmare. And I have an outdoor fireplace AND a gas grill. I concur ā YOU are your own guardian angel. And bless the fire department !
@HiddenHaven Did the guest accept the request for funds?
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Iām still getting receipts but Iāll file before my next guest. My cameras footage have so far won every resolution center case. This will be no different I donāt suspect. Iāve got footage showing them leaving the pit ablaze and uncovered and going to bed, the fire getting out of control, my call to Airbnb customer ācircusā to notify and see if they have a different phone number after my calls failed, the firemen extinguishing the fire, the firemen knocking on the door but no one answering, and finally the guest running out of the house the next am and nearly falling to her knees when she saw the damage and realized what could have happened.
Itās eye opening for sure and solidifies my decision to also not allow guests to use my Buck Stove. Now Iām seriously rethinking my grill and my fire pit.
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About the guest not waking up to all the light, racket, knocking. Would she sleep through a CO detector going off. Iām wondering if you could install some kind of remotely operated alert at your home. It seems that if you could have set off an alarm in the house when she didnāt answer the phone it would have worked. I know the chance of a repeat occurrence is low but something to consider.
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Remove the fire pit!
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In my younger years it would take a small nuclear device to wake me up so it is possible.
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In my market it would be very, very hard to compete with no firepit. And without a grill? Fuggedaboutit!
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Regretfully in my market it will to, but my eyes are totally opened so Iām trying to think of a way to āFisher-Priceā something that could cause a catastrophic problemā¦so far no solutions!
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A large gravel area with stone fire pit surrounded by metal chairs or a built in stone circle with no space to bring chairs from the house or something. Like this but with the stone seating too close to the pit to fit chairs.
Get rid of the wooden chairs. Put an alarm in the house that you can trigger remotely.
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So glad you saw it and the damage didnāt get worse! If it were me, out of spite I would have used the remote door lock to unlock the door for the firemen and tell them āgo ahead, go on in!ā LOL.
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Wow. This is incredible. Iām one of those posters who started on here to rant some time ago, but Iāve stuck around and have found this really helpful and hopefully have been helpful to others.
Iām guessing youāre in the U.S. so this advice may not apply, but we also had someone who could have burnt our house down after removing the fireguard and banking up the fire, burning a Nativity set and a chair in the process which they placed on the fire.
Some of this spilled out and burnt the floor. In any case we had photographic evidence and one thing I did that was very helpful was to record the conversation when we went round after being alerted to other problems by the neighbours. I was able to log a crime with the police and had all the supporting evidence to threaten legal action. The guest paid the grand sum of Ā£830 which I guess is around a $1000.
As someone else says here Airbnb were not very helpful at all, but we also hadnāt realised you had to log the issue with them before your next guest arrived.
I would urge you, as others have done, to chase this stupid person. Weāve had two incidents where Iāve had to do this and itās taken 3-6 months in both cases. My attitude was that they needed to be held to account and if they didnāt pay, what had I lost that I hadnāt already!
The fire seems a real attraction to your place and I can understand your change of policy, but maybe something like a chimera could do a similar job safer? Then at least you still have an appeal that guests will be attracted to.
All the best.
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In my now older years, it would still take a small nuclear device to wake me up. I slept through a (brief) hurricane once, woke to the phone ringing, with a member of staff unable to get to work; would I cover? I thoughtfully offered him a prize for most ingenious excuse yet, until I looked out of the window and saw the devastation.
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OMGoodness! Thank you so much for sharing. We have a firepit too and this is eye opening. We wouldnāt be able to compete either without it. Unfortunately, my cabin in the woods doesnāt have cable so I have to rely on game cameras to catch infractions. But a fire! Oh Lordy!
Please keep us posted on the end result!
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I try not to correct peopleās grammar or spelling here but you do mean chiminea, right? They both are fire breathing but I donāt think a monster would be good for business. 
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Hilarious. My head is hung in shame. Perhaps this was an errant muse who preferred a dragon to a cheap clay oven.
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You can get sprinklers that are controlled by wifi/hub. Although not sure you want to stay up late at night to play fire fighter should you have another idiot guest.
Lesser approach, maybe have hose right next to fire pit, with big sign saying spray fire with water before going to bed.
You can get fire pits that have a top, sides,
I have a $500 deposit on my rental. Once, a woman used the guest parking area for a week without my knowledge after I told her the fee. After a week, I found out she was using it behind my back and I informed Airbnb of the abuse and they gave me the $500 deposit which I in turn gave to the community for the parking charge which was just a tad over $500.
Sometimes I think the $500 deposit is low - for instance if they ruined the antique furniture I have in the room but so far so good.
Being in Chile, my guests are infrequent and they come for serious reasons such as business, medical or tourism. The parking bit was the only problem I have had in all these years.
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