Freedom From Wood Smoke Plea-Connecticut

Plea For Government Help From Wood Smoke!

Local and state agencies/officials do nothing in Connecticut

Environment and Human Health, Inc.
1191 Ridge Road
North Haven, CT 06473

I am writing Environment and Human Health, Inc. because I have not
been able to get help from either state or local agencies to end the
inundation of wood smoke that enters our property and our home from our neighbors' wood burning.

We moved to Terryville, CT in October 2003 and by early spring 2004
the wood smoke became a problem. As soon I recognized that wood
smoke was coming into my home whenever I opened a window, I would shut my windows immediately.

I have developed asthma and require an inhaler and emergency inhaler when all else fails to open my air ways. I have not yet been
hospitalized for breathing problems from the wood smoke. I did not
have these breathing problems before I moved to our current home. My son, who was born in March 2005, has now been prescribed a bronchial dilator when he wheezes in his sleep.

I cannot open the windows of our home at anytime of the year without fearing and knowing that wood smoke will infiltrate my home. I
attempt to open one window on the north side of my home about two
inches and the wood smoke bellows in almost every time I open my
window. I cannot open the windows of my home and cannot open windows in my sunroom, nor can we use our screened in porch on the lower level of our home, a raised ranch during any time of the year.

The wood smoke comes from our neighbors' chimneys and wood stoves as well as one neighbor's outdoor furnace. Three homes to the west of our home have active wood burning devices all winter long. The home with the outdoor wood furnace also burns all year long.

My closest neighbor to the west has huge outdoor campfires that they
burn for recreational pleasure. They often burn these "campfires"
all day and well into the night-sometimes at 4 am the smoke is still
so thick I cannot open the windows. Their wood smoke travels to our
home about 100 to 150 feet away. One evening when I left a window
open and went to bed I was awakened by the smell of wood smoke in my home. I believed my home was on fire. Upon evacuating my home and looking back the house was totally engulfed with smoke, no flames were visible. The smoke was thick and the responding fire fighter thought the dense smoke must be from a forest fire if my house was not on fire. The smoke was that thick. No forest fire was found and it was thought the neighbor's campfire all night had created the smoke that hung in the air.

The farmer who owns the land directly north of our home frequently
burns brush without a burn permit-- huge piles of brush he
accumulates on his property. The smoke comes right to our home.
After my complaint he was issued a burn permit and burned a huge pile that was visible from my kitchen window and the smoke came into our home on the first nice day of the spring last year. This man chose the first beautiful days of the spring to burn bush without regard for anyone down wind from his fire. Later that night the people he had watching his fires returned to stoke the smoldering ashes after 8:30 PM. They started the burning again with flames rising taller than they stood. The people he hired were the people who live in the house directly west of my home who build the campfires.

In weather with fog, rain or low clouds the wood smoke stays even longer. Recently, building my son's first snowman resulting in me having to use my emergency inhaler. My child and I have been prisoners in our home from this wood smoke.

I write Environment and Human Health, Inc. for help in stopping the wood smoke. Please is there anything you can do? We have considered moving, but the housing market is so poor right now we cannot afford to lose so much of our home's value. I cannot afford to get lawyers to fight a case against the town or the neighbors. You are our last hope, unless of course I win the lottery and can then afford to move. Please anything you can do will be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.
Sincerely,
SB & CM
Terryville, CT


Editor note....millions of people in America (and the world) are suffering like the above, and local and state officials remain silent. Sad, very sad!