Redlands Daily Facts.com
Locals given incentive to ditch wood fireplaces
Liset Marquez, Staff Writer
Posted:12/14/2008 10:02:04 PM PST
Southern California might not seem like a hotspot for fireplaces, but there are enough wood-burning types to do damage to the air and people's health.
The South Coast Air Quality Management District will provide Inland Empire residents with a $125 discount toward the conversion or purchase of a gas fireplace.
The discount is being offered through the district's Healthy Hearths program, AQMD spokesman Sam Atwood said.
"This is to reinforce that wood, as natural as it may be, is hazardous to their health," Atwood said. Despite its typically warm weather, Southern California has more than 1.4 million homes that use fireplaces, Atwood said.
Breathing in wood smoke and the tiny particles that escape when wood burns - called fine particulates - can cause respiratory problems or irritation in the nose and throat.
Several studies have shown that long-term exposure to fine particulates results in respiratory problems, said Jean Ospital, health-effects officer for AQMD.
Fireplaces contribute to the six tons of pollution a day that come from burning wood. That's four times the amount emitted by the region's power plants, Atwood said.
The numbers are a reason for why Southern California has the worst pollution in the country and has led AQMD to look at ways to reduce particulate-matter emissions, Atwood said.
In recent years, measures have been taken to clean up the air and meet Environmental Protection Agency standards, Atwood said.
In March, the district's governing board adopted a rule prohibiting the sale and installation of wood-burning devices in the region by 2011. When the governing board adopted the rule, it directed $500,000 to gas-fireplace companies to provide an incentive for buyers to make the switch.
The district has contracted with Rasmussen Companies and RJ Peters Company - which have 60 retailers in the region - to provide the instant rebates.
"Southern California has some of the highest levels of fine particulate matter, and the levels tend to be higher in San Bernardino and Riverside County areas," Ospital said.
Areas with elevated levels of fine-particulate matter have higher levels of premature deaths, said Atwood.
A study by the California Air Resources Board estimates there are annually about 6,000 deaths in Southern California from exposure to fine particulates, Atwood said.
The problem is that researchers don't know how much of an effect emissions from wood burning has on the levels of fine-particulate matter, Ospital said.
That is what has led AQMD to ask residents in the region to switch to gas fireplaces, which are 99 percent cleaner than wood fireplaces, Atwood said.
"Wood smoke is probably a small amount, but nonetheless it's a source that is significant and we can do something about," Atwood said.
To help spread the word about converting from wood to gas fireplaces, AQMD has set up a Healthy Hearths Web site.
REF: Redlands Daily Facts.com
Henrietta Township couple suing maker of wood boiler
Sunday, December 14, 2008
From----BurningIssues.org Web site-Forum
Posted: Thu Nov 13, 2008 11:34 am---Post subject: OWB lawsuit (Michigan)
Henrietta Township couple suing maker of wood boiler
by Danielle Quisenberry | Jackson Citizen Patriot
Thursday November 13, 2008, 7:15 AM
A Henrietta Township couple is suing a Minnesota outdoor wood boiler manufacturer that they allege knowingly creates and sells heating devices proven to be harmful to human health.
A Texas lawyer filed the suit last month in the District Court of Hennepin County, Minn., on behalf of Roger and Mary Soldano — whose neighbor used a wood boiler. The defendant is Red Lake Falls, Minn.-based Northwest Manufacturing Inc.
"Northwest Manufacturing has known about the dangerous emissions and smoke generated by the (outdoor wood boiler) in question and others like it for some time and has failed to warn the public or take any action to correct a defectively designed product," the lawsuit reads.
"As a direct and proximate result of the reckless, negligent, callous, and outrageous acts and omissions of Defendant Northwest Manufacturing Inc., Roger Soldano has sustained serious debilitating injuries."
The company's president could not be reached for comment.
Soldano's wife also has suffered long-lasting health effects and the company should be held liable for the pair's past and future medical expenses, loss of earnings and earning capacity, and their diminished enjoyment of life, according to the document.
The Soldanos' neighbor, Richard Cady on Hankerd Road near Mud Lake, for two heating seasons used an outdoor wood boiler that transfers heat through water lines from an outside structure to a home. He bought the device, a Woodmaster 4400, from Northwest Manufacturing.
Increasingly popular and largely unregulated in Michigan, the boilers are touted as inexpensive alternatives to gas or propane heat.
They also have been proven to be inefficient polluters, according to health and environmental organizations.
"It is really surprising these things are still on the market," said Soldano's lawyer, Joseph E. Ritch, who specializes in product-liability law in Corpus Christi, Texas.
Todd Strem, Northwest Manufacturing's sales and marketing manager, said last month that the company is developing more efficient, cleaner-burning models and encourages users to be conscientious of their neighbors and follow "best burn practices."
The company has worked with the Environmental Protection Agency to come up with federal standards, now voluntary, for outdoor wood boilers, he said.
On Sept. 30, Jackson County Circuit Judge Chad Schmucker ordered Cady to remove or make inoperable his wood boiler after a Jackson County health officer informed Cady the boiler was a public health hazard.
The order prohibits Cady from using the burner until the matter is settled before or after a trial scheduled for Feb. 25.
The Jackson County case is separate from the Minnesota case, which does not involve Cady.
Cady's burner sat about 180 feet downwind from the Soldano house, according to court records and caused a cloud of smoke to settle over his neighbors.
Note...From-BurningIssues.org Web site-Forum. Great web site to visit!
Posted: Thu Nov 13, 2008 11:34 am---Post subject: OWB lawsuit (Michigan)
Henrietta Township couple suing maker of wood boiler
by Danielle Quisenberry | Jackson Citizen Patriot
Thursday November 13, 2008, 7:15 AM
A Henrietta Township couple is suing a Minnesota outdoor wood boiler manufacturer that they allege knowingly creates and sells heating devices proven to be harmful to human health.
A Texas lawyer filed the suit last month in the District Court of Hennepin County, Minn., on behalf of Roger and Mary Soldano — whose neighbor used a wood boiler. The defendant is Red Lake Falls, Minn.-based Northwest Manufacturing Inc.
"Northwest Manufacturing has known about the dangerous emissions and smoke generated by the (outdoor wood boiler) in question and others like it for some time and has failed to warn the public or take any action to correct a defectively designed product," the lawsuit reads.
"As a direct and proximate result of the reckless, negligent, callous, and outrageous acts and omissions of Defendant Northwest Manufacturing Inc., Roger Soldano has sustained serious debilitating injuries."
The company's president could not be reached for comment.
Soldano's wife also has suffered long-lasting health effects and the company should be held liable for the pair's past and future medical expenses, loss of earnings and earning capacity, and their diminished enjoyment of life, according to the document.
The Soldanos' neighbor, Richard Cady on Hankerd Road near Mud Lake, for two heating seasons used an outdoor wood boiler that transfers heat through water lines from an outside structure to a home. He bought the device, a Woodmaster 4400, from Northwest Manufacturing.
Increasingly popular and largely unregulated in Michigan, the boilers are touted as inexpensive alternatives to gas or propane heat.
They also have been proven to be inefficient polluters, according to health and environmental organizations.
"It is really surprising these things are still on the market," said Soldano's lawyer, Joseph E. Ritch, who specializes in product-liability law in Corpus Christi, Texas.
Todd Strem, Northwest Manufacturing's sales and marketing manager, said last month that the company is developing more efficient, cleaner-burning models and encourages users to be conscientious of their neighbors and follow "best burn practices."
The company has worked with the Environmental Protection Agency to come up with federal standards, now voluntary, for outdoor wood boilers, he said.
On Sept. 30, Jackson County Circuit Judge Chad Schmucker ordered Cady to remove or make inoperable his wood boiler after a Jackson County health officer informed Cady the boiler was a public health hazard.
The order prohibits Cady from using the burner until the matter is settled before or after a trial scheduled for Feb. 25.
The Jackson County case is separate from the Minnesota case, which does not involve Cady.
Cady's burner sat about 180 feet downwind from the Soldano house, according to court records and caused a cloud of smoke to settle over his neighbors.
Note...From-BurningIssues.org Web site-Forum. Great web site to visit!
I love the smell of clean air, not smoke!---Letter
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Letters
Palo Alto Online
Spectrum - Friday, November 21, 2008
It's been nice to have a little rain lately. I especially enjoy going for late afternoon walks to enjoy the fall colors and the clean wet smell.
We are so lucky to live where the winds from the sea sweep our air clean. Unfortunately, on some blocks the air is frighteningly contaminated even on these brisk clear days. Smoke from wood-burning fireplaces billows and settles.
This is the smoke that causes up to 30 percent of the air pollution in the Bay Area, according to the Bay Area Air Quality Management District. This is the smoke that has particles that lodge in the lungs and stay there forever, contributing to lung disease, especially in children and the elderly.
To burn wood or pressed logs is to spew filth into the air for all to breathe. I know some people love the smell of wood smoke (I smell ignorance) but I love the smell of clean air, not smoke! Please give your family and neighbors clean air this holiday season.
Maria Kleczewska
Menlo Park, CA.
Palo Alto Online
Spectrum - Friday, November 21, 2008
It's been nice to have a little rain lately. I especially enjoy going for late afternoon walks to enjoy the fall colors and the clean wet smell.
We are so lucky to live where the winds from the sea sweep our air clean. Unfortunately, on some blocks the air is frighteningly contaminated even on these brisk clear days. Smoke from wood-burning fireplaces billows and settles.
This is the smoke that causes up to 30 percent of the air pollution in the Bay Area, according to the Bay Area Air Quality Management District. This is the smoke that has particles that lodge in the lungs and stay there forever, contributing to lung disease, especially in children and the elderly.
To burn wood or pressed logs is to spew filth into the air for all to breathe. I know some people love the smell of wood smoke (I smell ignorance) but I love the smell of clean air, not smoke! Please give your family and neighbors clean air this holiday season.
Maria Kleczewska
Menlo Park, CA.
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