Site search
sponsored by
News
Improper burning in wood stoves and backyards is being blamed for the bad morning air quality in southern Nevada County this past week.
“We’re getting a lot of calls about bad air,” Joe Fish said Friday at the Northern Sierra Air Quality Management District in Grass Valley. “We’re getting calls from people with respiratory problems.
“It’s because of wood stoves and some outdoor burning,” Fish said, but not the controlled burns occurring near White Cloud and Washington during the week.
“People are not operating their woodstoves properly, and these cold morning inversions trap the smoke, and it doesn’t lift until 9 or 10 a.m.,” Fish said.
Many of the calls came from the Alta Sierra area and Banner Mountain, where residents were conducting private burns, Fish said.
When using a wood stove, people need to steer away from untreated green wood, Fish said. Years ago, he learned to put a green log in his wood stove before going to bed to have hot coals in the morning.
“But all night long, I was sending smoke into the environment,” Fish said, so he stopped the practice. “People need to go outside to see what the stove is doing” and not just assume their fire is clean.
Smoke is produced by the moisture in green wood, according to a wood burning handbook published by the California EPA Air Resources Board. Wood smoke can contain cancer-causing substances including benzene and formaldehyde, the handbook said.
Those with wood stoves should only use dried, seasoned wood, the handbook said. When buying wood, look for dark cracked ends, light weight and bark that easily strips off.
When starting a fire, open the damper fully for 30 minutes, the handbook said. Start the fire small with kindling and add larger pieces as the fire builds, while turning the damper down.
Composting the yard or property waste is also a good way to use it instead of burning it and adding to the pollution, Fish said.
“Pine needles take time, but you can let them go right back into the soil,” just like they do to rejuvenate the forest floor,” Fish said. Burn piles should also be dry and contain wood material to help them burn and not just smoke, Fish said.
For more information, visit woodheat.org or myairdistrict.com.
To contact Senior Staff Writer Dave Moller, e-mail dmoller@theunion.com or call 477-4237.
“We’re getting a lot of calls about bad air,” Joe Fish said Friday at the Northern Sierra Air Quality Management District in Grass Valley. “We’re getting calls from people with respiratory problems.
“It’s because of wood stoves and some outdoor burning,” Fish said, but not the controlled burns occurring near White Cloud and Washington during the week.
“People are not operating their woodstoves properly, and these cold morning inversions trap the smoke, and it doesn’t lift until 9 or 10 a.m.,” Fish said.
Many of the calls came from the Alta Sierra area and Banner Mountain, where residents were conducting private burns, Fish said.
When using a wood stove, people need to steer away from untreated green wood, Fish said. Years ago, he learned to put a green log in his wood stove before going to bed to have hot coals in the morning.
“But all night long, I was sending smoke into the environment,” Fish said, so he stopped the practice. “People need to go outside to see what the stove is doing” and not just assume their fire is clean.
Smoke is produced by the moisture in green wood, according to a wood burning handbook published by the California EPA Air Resources Board. Wood smoke can contain cancer-causing substances including benzene and formaldehyde, the handbook said.
Those with wood stoves should only use dried, seasoned wood, the handbook said. When buying wood, look for dark cracked ends, light weight and bark that easily strips off.
When starting a fire, open the damper fully for 30 minutes, the handbook said. Start the fire small with kindling and add larger pieces as the fire builds, while turning the damper down.
Composting the yard or property waste is also a good way to use it instead of burning it and adding to the pollution, Fish said.
“Pine needles take time, but you can let them go right back into the soil,” just like they do to rejuvenate the forest floor,” Fish said. Burn piles should also be dry and contain wood material to help them burn and not just smoke, Fish said.
For more information, visit woodheat.org or myairdistrict.com.
To contact Senior Staff Writer Dave Moller, e-mail dmoller@theunion.com or call 477-4237.
