Change in fire ordinance will open door to pollution, smell

TheTimesHerald.com
Letter to the Editor
January 30, 2008

Change in fire ordinance will open door to pollution, smell

I was distressed to read the Port Huron City Council found it advisable to approve changes in city ordinances - ones that banned "recreational" fires in residential neighborhoods. I can best explain my objections by relating my personal experiences with the sort of recreational fires the council approved.

Last summer, some of my neighbors started using one of those clay-pot fire pits. In the hottest weeks of the summer, these people burned wood and laid down an insufferable blanket of wood smoke. The surrounding neighbors (who did not have central air conditioning) were forced to endure the late-night blanket of ground-hugging smoke (no chimney required!).

The lady living next to me, (the immediate neighbor of the party people) had young children prone to a common respiratory problem, asthma. I am a recovering heart-attack victim.

Eventually, the party people discovered it was convenient to use the dying embers of the recreational fire to consume paper plates, plastic drinking cups, and eating utensils left over from the late-night drinking and eating binge. My home smelled like a trash incinerator.

Why, after all the efforts to stop smoking in public places and restaurants, would the council find it in anyone's best interest to approve what will become a troublesome, unregulated source of recreational pollution? What were council members thinking?

A plague on all their houses.

JAMES MEYER
Port Huron, Jan. 30
http://www.thetimesherald.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080204/OPINION03/802040315/1014/OPINION

Editor's note—--Yes...I agree...”A plague on all their houses.”

This is what Elk Grove Village, Illinois did (lifted a ban) in 2004, and even with receiving overwhelming information on the deadly effects of wood smoke, and pleas and personal testimony from people, EGV will NOT reinstate the ban on outdoor wood burning fireplaces and fire pits as of today, February 2, 2008. Amazing, isn't it!!!!

Let's also remember that Lake/Cook/DuPage/McHenry counties and our elected Illinois state senators and representatives have totally ignored this deadly air pollution and anti-health crisis-wood smoke-which involuntarily enters our homes and lungs. Their inaction to not help the millions of people in Illinois being affected by wood smoke emissions is very, very sad.