Where there's smoke -- there should be a ban

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


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