Gabriola Island Clean Air Society

Susy Mallin shares with the Gabriola Island Clean Air Society her story about wood smoke and how it has affected her life. She lives in Port Alberni, BC and this woman is out of options. How does your right to burn trump these concerns? My story is one of a vibrant, creative and full life gone very wrong due to the belief that burning wood is harmless to ones self and others. I myself once lived under this misconception and now realize that no one has the right to inflict the terrible toxic harm that comes from any kind of wood burning. I had always had a fireplace in my home. In the 70’s I lived in the Slocan Valley and burned wood as a heat source. My youngest child was a toddler, and developed bronchitis that became so bad she spent 2-3 months a year for about 3 years in the hospital in an oxygen tent. No one connected my daughter’s illness to the burning of wood in our home, and the concentration of wood smoke in the environment which was created from all...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Wood Smoke is a Serious Health Hazard (April 6, 2017, Vancouver, British Columbia)— Vicki Morell feels like a prisoner in her own home. And she warns that if it happened to her and her family, it can happen to you too.  The misery began 12 years ago when wood smoke from a neighbour’s fireplace began to permeate the Morell family’s home. The smoke gives Morell headaches and causes burning eyes and other health effects. “My wood-burning neighbours have told me that it is their right to burn wood,” said Morell. "But what about my right to breathe fresh clean air in my own home? I don’t understand why the right to burn wood outweighs another’s right to breathe clean air.” Morell used to think that closing windows would keep out the wood smoke, but she soon discovered that she was wrong. Wood smoke particles are far smaller than the width of a human hair — so tiny that, research has shown, the insides of nearby houses can wind up having ...