A handful of complaints, and many come from people using outdoor fire pits.....me thinks the problem should be dealt with on a local level:
Leslie Balch, Director of Health, Quinnipiack Valley Health District (QVHD) QVHD has responded to at least 5 wood smoke complaints over the past 2 years. Presently, a violation for residential wood smoke emissions does not exist in the CT Public Health code, making it quite difficult for her to investigate complaints about it; observe conditions which are known to be a detrimental to health; and fear that their best efforts to protect may be thwarted because there is no provision in the Public Health Code to cite.
Carolyn Wysocki, President of Ecological Health Organization, Inc. (ECHO) Working with people who have Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS), I see how wood smoke negatively affects the average person as well as those already suffering from a disease. Smoke from burning wood results in high concentrations of toxic air pollution at ground level. An EPA study concludes that breathing wood smoke particles during high pollution day is equivalent to smoking 18 cigarettes. I believe that this bill would give some recourse for people with MCS and also those with asthma, emphysema, bronchitis, allergies and cardiovascular diseases who are suffering serious adverse health effects from wood smoke.
Paul Kowalski, Environmental Health Program Director, New Haven Health Department: This law will provide municipal health departments and health districts with a tool to properly provide public health protection. Certain wood smoke emissions should be considered a public health nuisance and treated accordingly.
Rose Bernabucci, North Haven: Wood smoke has negatively compromised my health. When exposed to the smoke, my heart starts to palpitate and my entire body begins to shake. Twice I thought I was having a heart attack. My eyes and throat become so irritated that there is not much the doctors can do. I have spoken to, written to, emailed and/or visited every authority I thought could help and their answers ware all the same, “without a wood smoke nuisance law, there is nothing we can do to help you.”
David and Priscilla Miller, Milford: Our neighbor has an outdoor fire pit in their front lawn which creates a dense smoke that not only surrounds the neighborhood but seeps its way into homes. In order to reduce the effects of this smoke, we must close all windows and doors and move to the opposite side of their house, even in the spring and summer months. Even after conversations with our neighbor, he still insists that it is his right use to the fire pit for his own recreation. Many citizens have been told that this is a problem which must be addressed at the state level.
Beth Terra, New Hartford: Not only is this a pollution issue, it is a medical issue for my family as well as plenty others throughout the state. In November of 2008, a neighbor of mine began utilizing an outdoor wood-burning furnace. Now, I rarely ever lets my children play outside due to how heavy and compromising to their health the smoke is. My family and I have developed signs and symptoms of upper respiratory distress with sore throats, coughs, headaches, and nausea from the wood smoke and odor. I went to town officials with complaint of the smoke and has been told that without wood smoke being added to the nuisance law, nothing can be done.
Dorothy E. Alderman, Hebron: Over two years ago, I was forced to leave my home of 20 years on Andover Lake because of wood burning stoves. I have been to an allergist, and ear, nose and throat doctor, and then the UConn Health Center only to find out that I have Parasmia, a distortion of the sense of smell and taste, caused by damage to nervous tissue in the olfactory system. After contacting numerous people to find out what can be done about something affecting my health so negatively I learned that there was nothing they could do to help me.
Ken D'Ademo, Milford: The smoke from my neighbor's outdoor fireplace has been so strong that my wife had been taken to the hospital twice and my son's asthma medications have increased. My neighbor agreed to call us before they light their fireplace but they called once and then began to burn every night. I contacted the police, the Environmental Protection Agency, Department Environmental Protection, and even the mayor and were told there was nothing they could do as wood smoke is not part of the nuisance laws. In addition to having to sell our house due to the immense amount of smoke, my mother-in-law developed lung cancer and coincidentally her room had the most exposure to the smoke because of the basement hatch. Doctors said there was no way to prove that wood smoke was the cause, even though she was a nonsmoker.
Jodi Blanco, Broad Brook: I have contacted dozens of officials in order to have something done to aid me in my fight to have wood smoke become a nuisance. My neighbor, who installed a wood burning stove in 2002, has admitted to burning oiled rags from his sludge cleanup, and has had no fines submitted to him. The smoke from my neighbor is constantly coming into my house, making me more and more nervous each day for the health of my children. As my daughter waits outside for the school bus in the morning, she is surrounded by smoke. My family and I have made numerous doctors visits over the past several years, whether it's been for asthma or head and respiratory colds. My neighbor refuses to shut down the stove and contin
