A false alarm went off last week when Seattle Parks and Recreation considered limiting bonfires this year and banning them next year in order to help prevent global warming, the wish of Mayor Greg Nickels stated in a memo referring to carbon emitting from the flames.

Never more would have bonfires been the draw to parties and revelry on the beach at Golden Gardens.

Shortly after a Seattle Post-Intelligencer story raged through the city and objectors began writing to Web sites and letters to the editor, the city's Parks and Recreation department backpedaled.

A new memo was issued from Parks headquarters nixing the ban that was to have included a public relations campaign to inform people about the negative impact of beach-fire carbon emissions. Parks officials had also considered charging fees for bonfires in 2009, if not eliminating them altogether.

"I think it's a bad idea considering how little emissions come from fire versus industrial emissions," said Erik Langland, of Phinney Ridge. He was stationed at a bonfire bin with his two buddies chopping wood.

"It's a great tradition after school," said Nick Marek, 19, of Ballard. "There's not too much stuff teenagers can do and now they want to take this away."

"They're not banning the Hummer," said Michael Vasquez, 19 of Green Lake.

"It's a fun place to kick it, a place to go," said Sean Forde, 18, of Briar, at the next bonfire over. "There's nothing else that's free anymore."

"That's just horrible," said Tyler Thompson, 18, of the possibility of a ban. "Fires are one of the closest thing aside from hiking we have to the outdoors. Driving to the beach is much worse than putting up a campfire. If they want to start somewhere they should start with cars."

"I think this is such a small scale compared to cars, and there are better places to start," said Hanna Halwas.

"This is not going to be a big dent. It seems like an attempt to say they're doing something but in the long run what difference will it make?"

Whether or not Parks and Recreation agrees, these teens will have to wait for at least another year.

Steve Shay may be reached at steves@robinsonnews.com