|
|
|
|
No-burn days protect Mono residents from dangers of air pollution |
|
|
Monday, 09 November 2009 |
By Diane Eagle
Mammoth Times Editor
Twenty years ago, Mammoth was a much smokier, dustier place than it is today.
In the winter smoke from wood stoves and fireplaces filled the air. Cars driving back and forth over anti-skid, volcanic cinders on the snowy roads created a haze over the town.
Air pollution got to the point where particulate matter levels violated federal air quality standards.
“The Town instituted one of the first woodstove regulations in the country,” said Air Pollution Control Officer Ted Schade. It essentially outlawed open fireplaces, and required homeowners to convert them to EPA Phase II stoves or pellet stoves.
Further, the Town put vacuum sweepers on roads to collect the cinders after the roads dry and before they become airborne.
The results were dramatic, cleaning the air within a couple of years.
The Town also instituted No-burn Days when there is a combination of high visitor population, calm winds and an inversion that can trap air pollution near the ground.
On No-burn Days Mammoth residents should use gas, kerosene or electric heaters, or pellet stoves to heat their homes, but not wood stoves or fireplaces. Those who do burn wood on those days may be subject to a citation and fine.
Levels are monitored at an air-quality station atop the Gateway Mall at the corner of Main Street and Old Mammoth Road. To find out the daily air-quality forecast, call (760) 934-1010.
Tips for clean burning with wood
With colder weather and shorter days, smoke from wood-burning stoves returns. When communities in the Eastern Sierra experience periods of cold, calm weather, local air quality can quickly deteriorate as concentrations of wood smoke build up in the stagnant air.
The Great Basin Air Pollution Control District recommends that if you heat with wood, please be considerate of your neighbors and protect the health of your family by burning clean, hot fires and checking your chimney periodically for emissions. By changing the way you burn wood in your woodstove, you can save money, reduce air pollution and protect your health.
Burn well-seasoned dry wood, making sure that the fire gets plenty of air, and do not burn trash in the woodstove or fireplace. Use only non-coated and non-colored paper with dry kindling to start fires. Closing the draft on a stove to “let the fire smolder” creates a terrible amount of pollution and should be avoided. Remember that after start-up, any fire that produces a visible smoke plume is polluting the air.
To see if your fire is burning as clean as possible, go outside 15 minutes after starting the fire and look at the chimney. If only a thin wispy column of smoke or no smoke is visible, the fire is burning well. If smoke is clearly visible, then your fire needs more air, the wood is not dry enough, or the wood is not split small enough.
The goal is to start a wood fire with only one match and get the fire going immediately. When the flames from the kindling begin to die down, add several small pieces of firewood. Try not to smother the fire with new pieces, so place the pieces on or behind the burning kindling.
Live coals remain after the fire has burned down, and this is the time to shift the remaining charcoal. Rake the live coals forward to just inside the loading door, and start with the kindling. If the charcoal is still glowing, you can place additional firewood on and behind the charcoal. Be careful not to overload the wood stove, which can cause excessive smoldering. Open up the air inlets fully, and close the door. If everything is placed just right, the flame should soon re-ignite.
Never let the fire smolder. With well-seasoned dry firewood and adequate air in the firebox, wood burns hot with less visible smoke and air pollution. A hot fire results in more complete combustion of the firewood, which gives you more heat from the wood that you burn. Incomplete combustion of your firewood reduces the amount of heat you can get from your wood stove, and increases air pollution.
The skills needed to operate a wood burning system effectively need to be practiced to get them correct, and if you can get a fire going with a single match and get a red-hot fire burning, you’ve accomplished something worth knowing.
A free “Wood Burning Handbook” explaining clean wood burning techniques is available from the Great Basin Air Pollution Control District or can be downloaded at www.gbuapcd.org/Information/WoodBurningHandbook.pdf or call (760) 872-8211 for a copy.
|
|
Last Updated ( Saturday, 14 November 2009 )
|
|
|
|
|
Go to www.CompareCards.com on-line for information on the prepaid credit cards that are cheapest for you. |
|
|
|
|
