Ubiquitous
By Julie Mellum,
The Calgary Herald July 24, 2010
Re: "Where there's smoke -- there should be a ban," Naomi Lakritz, Opinion, July 21.
Naomi Lakritz's column exemplifies the plight our cities are in because of wood smoke. It is everywhere. Wood smoke violates the property rights of other taxpayers by preventing them from using and enjoying their property when it is infused with smoke's caustic and deadly fumes. If people have a "right" to burn, shouldn't others who understand the severe health hazards of wood smoke have the "right" to clean air on their property? Wood smoke violates most nuisance ordinances, but enforcement is not supported by government. I urge Calgary citizens to rise up and refuse to pay property taxes on a per diem pro-rated basis for every day that wood smoke interferes with your enjoyment of your property outdoors and inside. Your and your family's health are at stake, as is the environment. Demand a ban. See www.canadiancleanairalliance.cato learn more.
Julie Mellum, Minneapolis, Minn. Julie Mellum is president of Take Back the Air.
© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald
Where there's smoke -- there should be a ban
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Summertime, and the breathin' ain't easy.
By Naomi Lakritz, Calgary Herald July 21, 2010 8:02 AM
At least, it's not easy for Calgarians like Janey Kinnley, who must spend her summer days and evenings closed up in her house whenever someone within a two-block radius is using a backyard firepit. Kinnley, 64, was diagnosed with asthma 10 years ago, and smoke from neighbouring firepits makes her ill.
"People think that you're just a crazy old lady who doesn't like the smell of the smoke. It's not like that. It's literally killing me," Kinnley says.
Her southeast Calgary home has two decks and a flower garden, but she can only enjoy them from behind closed windows when firepits are lit in her area.
"I have to come in, close my doors and windows, put on the furnace fan, and exist in here. My throat gets very raw and sore, I get short of breath, and if it's really bad, I can get dizzy and my heart pounds. I had that (Sunday) night; (Saturday and Sunday) nights they were burning. Thank God, it was only four, five or six hours. They started at 6 p.m. and by 12:30 a.m., it was pretty well clear. Smoke interferes with heart rhythms and my heart was still pounding when I got up (Monday) morning," she says.
A non-smoker, Kinnley used to love firepits and campfires, but since her diagnosis, she knows how people feel on both sides of the issue: "I used to enjoy the firepits. I can understand why people enjoy them, but if it was killing my neighbour, I wouldn't be burning one."
This is a city of one million people, living on mainly small lots. Firepits have no place on those lots. Besides asthma, people have smoke allergies and debilitative conditions such as chronic pulmonary obstructive disease.
Some letter writers to the Herald recently insisted upon their right to a fire in their backyards. They claimed it was a property rights issue and they don't want anyone dictating what they can do in their yard. One argued that fond memories are created sitting around summer evening fires out back.
A fire is hardly essential to creating fond memories of backyard get-togethers. As for property rights, what about the right of a neighbour to enjoy his or her property without being made ill? Since when is having a fire some sort of human right?
Kinnley, who has formed the group Fresh Air Calgary, part of the national Canadian Clean Air Alliance, says her lung function has dropped by 10 per cent in just two years: "I'm fighting for my life literally. Every day, my lungs are getting more and more sensitive to what's going on." Kinnley is grateful that her immediate next-door neighbour stopped using a firepit when she explained about her health problems, but smoke from other firepits in the area still gets to her.
If only more people would be considerate of others, instead of taking a bellicose stance on being dictated to about permissible activities in one's yard. There are plenty of things you can't do in your yard, such as collect rusted-out hulks of junked cars, or raise goats. Backyard firepits have been banned in Maple Ridge, Chilliwack, Langley and Abbotsford, B.C. -- and these smelly nuisances should be banned in Calgary.
Bill Bruce, director of animal and bylaw services, says a handful of complaints come in each year about health concerns. He and fire Chief Bruce Burrell both have the power to shut down a firepit that's affecting someone's health -- and there's a $5,000 fine for non-compliance. He can't speak directly to Kinnley's case, but says, "If the link is to a firepit next door, it's a piece of cake." Firepits within a two-block radius are dicier because they fall into a grey area which depend on wind direction and climate conditions. He'd also need to see a doctor's note from the suffering individual before taking action.
According to the Canadian Lung Association, "wood smoke exposure can disrupt the cellular membranes, depress immune system activity, damage the layer of cells that protect and cleanse the airways, and disrupt enzyme levels. The health effects of wood smoke exposure include increased respiratory symptoms, increased hospital admissions for lower respiratory infections, exacerbation of asthma, and decreased breathing ability."
Wood smoke gives off particulate matter, which the Environmental Protection Act says can lead "to serious respiratory problems, including excess mortality, especially among those with pre-existing cardiopulmonary illness."
Other ingredients in wood smoke include carbon monoxide, oxides of nitrogen which "can cause shortness of breath . . . in people with lung diseases," hydrocarbons, volatile organic compounds, formaldehyde, which "can cause coughing, headaches, and eye irritation and act as a trigger for people with asthma," polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons -- a suspected carcinogen -- cancer-causing dioxins, and acrolein, which irritates the eyes and respiratory tract.
Healthy or ill, who wants to breathe in any of this junk wafting over from the neighbour's yard? If you want to sit around a fire, go camping, far away from the city.
By Naomi Lakritz, Calgary Herald July 21, 2010 8:02 AM
© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald (Canada)
The Provence
By Naomi Lakritz, Calgary Herald July 21, 2010 8:02 AM
At least, it's not easy for Calgarians like Janey Kinnley, who must spend her summer days and evenings closed up in her house whenever someone within a two-block radius is using a backyard firepit. Kinnley, 64, was diagnosed with asthma 10 years ago, and smoke from neighbouring firepits makes her ill.
"People think that you're just a crazy old lady who doesn't like the smell of the smoke. It's not like that. It's literally killing me," Kinnley says.
Her southeast Calgary home has two decks and a flower garden, but she can only enjoy them from behind closed windows when firepits are lit in her area.
"I have to come in, close my doors and windows, put on the furnace fan, and exist in here. My throat gets very raw and sore, I get short of breath, and if it's really bad, I can get dizzy and my heart pounds. I had that (Sunday) night; (Saturday and Sunday) nights they were burning. Thank God, it was only four, five or six hours. They started at 6 p.m. and by 12:30 a.m., it was pretty well clear. Smoke interferes with heart rhythms and my heart was still pounding when I got up (Monday) morning," she says.
A non-smoker, Kinnley used to love firepits and campfires, but since her diagnosis, she knows how people feel on both sides of the issue: "I used to enjoy the firepits. I can understand why people enjoy them, but if it was killing my neighbour, I wouldn't be burning one."
This is a city of one million people, living on mainly small lots. Firepits have no place on those lots. Besides asthma, people have smoke allergies and debilitative conditions such as chronic pulmonary obstructive disease.
Some letter writers to the Herald recently insisted upon their right to a fire in their backyards. They claimed it was a property rights issue and they don't want anyone dictating what they can do in their yard. One argued that fond memories are created sitting around summer evening fires out back.
A fire is hardly essential to creating fond memories of backyard get-togethers. As for property rights, what about the right of a neighbour to enjoy his or her property without being made ill? Since when is having a fire some sort of human right?
Kinnley, who has formed the group Fresh Air Calgary, part of the national Canadian Clean Air Alliance, says her lung function has dropped by 10 per cent in just two years: "I'm fighting for my life literally. Every day, my lungs are getting more and more sensitive to what's going on." Kinnley is grateful that her immediate next-door neighbour stopped using a firepit when she explained about her health problems, but smoke from other firepits in the area still gets to her.
If only more people would be considerate of others, instead of taking a bellicose stance on being dictated to about permissible activities in one's yard. There are plenty of things you can't do in your yard, such as collect rusted-out hulks of junked cars, or raise goats. Backyard firepits have been banned in Maple Ridge, Chilliwack, Langley and Abbotsford, B.C. -- and these smelly nuisances should be banned in Calgary.
Bill Bruce, director of animal and bylaw services, says a handful of complaints come in each year about health concerns. He and fire Chief Bruce Burrell both have the power to shut down a firepit that's affecting someone's health -- and there's a $5,000 fine for non-compliance. He can't speak directly to Kinnley's case, but says, "If the link is to a firepit next door, it's a piece of cake." Firepits within a two-block radius are dicier because they fall into a grey area which depend on wind direction and climate conditions. He'd also need to see a doctor's note from the suffering individual before taking action.
According to the Canadian Lung Association, "wood smoke exposure can disrupt the cellular membranes, depress immune system activity, damage the layer of cells that protect and cleanse the airways, and disrupt enzyme levels. The health effects of wood smoke exposure include increased respiratory symptoms, increased hospital admissions for lower respiratory infections, exacerbation of asthma, and decreased breathing ability."
Wood smoke gives off particulate matter, which the Environmental Protection Act says can lead "to serious respiratory problems, including excess mortality, especially among those with pre-existing cardiopulmonary illness."
Other ingredients in wood smoke include carbon monoxide, oxides of nitrogen which "can cause shortness of breath . . . in people with lung diseases," hydrocarbons, volatile organic compounds, formaldehyde, which "can cause coughing, headaches, and eye irritation and act as a trigger for people with asthma," polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons -- a suspected carcinogen -- cancer-causing dioxins, and acrolein, which irritates the eyes and respiratory tract.
Healthy or ill, who wants to breathe in any of this junk wafting over from the neighbour's yard? If you want to sit around a fire, go camping, far away from the city.
By Naomi Lakritz, Calgary Herald July 21, 2010 8:02 AM
© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald (Canada)
The Provence
Clear the air! Calgary Herald, Canada
Friday, July 16, 2010
Clear the air!
By Anne Day
Letter to the Calgary Herald
Calgary Herald July 10, 2010
I am in total agreement with this letter. At the back of my villa are two single family dwellings that both have firepits. They are in use in summer, when everyone likes to have their windows open to enjoy the fresh spring and summer air. However, the smoke drifts into my place, affecting my chronic cough, and I have to close things up. My right to enjoy fresh air is equal to theirs.
I have written twice to my Ald. Ric McIver, and last year, contacted bylaw control. They checked it out but said these were nice people. Nothing was done. I don't know what being "nice" has to do with anything.
© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald Canada
By Anne Day
Letter to the Calgary Herald
Calgary Herald July 10, 2010
I am in total agreement with this letter. At the back of my villa are two single family dwellings that both have firepits. They are in use in summer, when everyone likes to have their windows open to enjoy the fresh spring and summer air. However, the smoke drifts into my place, affecting my chronic cough, and I have to close things up. My right to enjoy fresh air is equal to theirs.
I have written twice to my Ald. Ric McIver, and last year, contacted bylaw control. They checked it out but said these were nice people. Nothing was done. I don't know what being "nice" has to do with anything.
© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald Canada
Smoke signals-Canada
Monday, July 12, 2010
Smoke signals
By Cathy Baiton, Calgary Herald July 11, 2010
Re: "Backyard burning. Ban firepits!," Letter, July 8.
It was good to see the recent letter supporting the wisdom of banning urban firepits. A growing number of communities in Canada -- and elsewhere -- have already banned wood-burning firepits, to prevent the unnecessary fire risk, and to help protect the air and residents' health. More people now recognize that wood smoke just doesn't belong in residential areas, where everyone is sharing the air.
There is simply no way to burn wood without creating pollution and smoke. Even the burning of clean, dry, seasoned hardwood, emits a considerable amount of pollution.
In cities across Alberta, people now have much more protection from secondhand cigarette smoke, but no protection from unwanted second-hand wood smoke, which is no less hazardous to health. If Calgary were to successfully pass a bylaw banning wood burning firepits, it would relieve the needless suffering from firepit smoke that many people are now having to endure in their homes, yards, and neighbourhoods. It would also set an excellent example of concern for public health and environmental stewardship that other Alberta communities would hopefully be encouraged to follow, for the good of their own air quality and community health.
Cathy Baiton, Lethbridge
© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald
By Cathy Baiton, Calgary Herald July 11, 2010
Re: "Backyard burning. Ban firepits!," Letter, July 8.
It was good to see the recent letter supporting the wisdom of banning urban firepits. A growing number of communities in Canada -- and elsewhere -- have already banned wood-burning firepits, to prevent the unnecessary fire risk, and to help protect the air and residents' health. More people now recognize that wood smoke just doesn't belong in residential areas, where everyone is sharing the air.
There is simply no way to burn wood without creating pollution and smoke. Even the burning of clean, dry, seasoned hardwood, emits a considerable amount of pollution.
In cities across Alberta, people now have much more protection from secondhand cigarette smoke, but no protection from unwanted second-hand wood smoke, which is no less hazardous to health. If Calgary were to successfully pass a bylaw banning wood burning firepits, it would relieve the needless suffering from firepit smoke that many people are now having to endure in their homes, yards, and neighbourhoods. It would also set an excellent example of concern for public health and environmental stewardship that other Alberta communities would hopefully be encouraged to follow, for the good of their own air quality and community health.
Cathy Baiton, Lethbridge
© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald
Backyard burning. Ban firepits! (Canada)
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Backyard burning. Ban firepits!
July 8, 2010
© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald (Canada)
I believe it's time to reconsider the wisdom of allowing backyard firepits. It's approaching 11 p.m., on a weeknight, as I sit at my kitchen table and write.
The air is not too pleasant, either inside or outside my home on this night. You see, since around noon, I have been subjected to the incessant smoke from a neighbour's firepit, just one lot away from my own.
Surely it's not possible for this homeowner to be unaware of the impact such backyard activity creates in the neighbourhood. The relentless plumes of smoke wafting away from their property would suggest otherwise.
The smoke is both a nuisance and an obstruction to the enjoyment of my own backyard space.
This same smoke also means that I am compelled to close windows or permit something other than fresh air inside. The city of Calgary is congested and continuing to grow, which means we place our homes very close to one another.
Firepits are more suited to campground settings or acreages, where such an activity is expected and accepted in these more appropriate locales.
I don't have the monitoring equipment to measure the air quality around my property, but my nose can certainly conclude that almost 12 hours of backyard burning is too much for the neighbours and the neighbourhood.
Since common sense and community-minded attitudes cannot be realized, even with our existing, reasonable firepit bylaw; then I see a ban as the only clear solution.
Louise M. Stinson, Calgary
© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald
Webmaster----Yes. Ban all outdoor open air buns and all wood burning.
July 8, 2010
© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald (Canada)
I believe it's time to reconsider the wisdom of allowing backyard firepits. It's approaching 11 p.m., on a weeknight, as I sit at my kitchen table and write.
The air is not too pleasant, either inside or outside my home on this night. You see, since around noon, I have been subjected to the incessant smoke from a neighbour's firepit, just one lot away from my own.
Surely it's not possible for this homeowner to be unaware of the impact such backyard activity creates in the neighbourhood. The relentless plumes of smoke wafting away from their property would suggest otherwise.
The smoke is both a nuisance and an obstruction to the enjoyment of my own backyard space.
This same smoke also means that I am compelled to close windows or permit something other than fresh air inside. The city of Calgary is congested and continuing to grow, which means we place our homes very close to one another.
Firepits are more suited to campground settings or acreages, where such an activity is expected and accepted in these more appropriate locales.
I don't have the monitoring equipment to measure the air quality around my property, but my nose can certainly conclude that almost 12 hours of backyard burning is too much for the neighbours and the neighbourhood.
Since common sense and community-minded attitudes cannot be realized, even with our existing, reasonable firepit bylaw; then I see a ban as the only clear solution.
Louise M. Stinson, Calgary
© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald
Webmaster----Yes. Ban all outdoor open air buns and all wood burning.
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