Fire pits a smoldering issue

Standing beside one of those concrete icons of the beach-oriented lifestyle here, Mayor Jerry Sanders announced Monday that the civic scare about the imminent removal of fire pits has been averted — at least for now.Enough money — $120,500 — has been scraped together from private and public sources to keep the city’s 186 fire pits burning for the next year, Sanders said. “Fire pits have an impassioned audience,” he said.