Your Worship Mayor Sobeski and Members of Council
I am here today to talk to you about Woodstock’s Open Air Burning
Policy.
Having lived most of my life in or near Toronto, I was
thrilled to move to Woodstock two and a half years ago, one of the reasons
being cleaner air.
We are a family of four. Two of my family members have respiratory-type allergies,
and one of those two also suffers from asthma.
I live in a new subdivision, where there is a lot of
building going on. At the present
time there are two backyard fire pits that I can see, and smell, from my own
house.
I am horrified at the thought that more and more homes
around me could be granted open air burning permits by the City of Woodstock,
and subject my home and family to smoke.
As I understand the legislation:
First, there is the Ontario Fire Code, which states:
2.6.3.4. (1) Open-air
burning shall not be permitted unless approved, [except for barbecues].
Here in Woodstock, approval is granted through the Open Air
Burning Policy. Let’s look at it.
2.2 tells you that you can apply for a permit: you make application for a permit
from the Fire Chief
(a) tells you when you can burn: between 4 PM and Midnight .
(b) tells you what you can
burn: charcoal, briquette or wood
(c) limits the size of your
fire pit two feet by two feet
(j) tells you that you can’t
burn under certain weather conditions:
wind speed more than15 k,rainy or foggy weather or during a smog alert
What this actually means: you buy or build a pit the right size, you call the fire
department to come and approve it, they grant you the permit, and any fine day
you can light a fire in an area of 2 x 2 feet – in which you can get a pretty
good blaze going – and keep it burning for 8 hours!
Why do we care?
Because during the time you are burning, you are subjecting your own
home, your neighbours’ properties, and the whole community to smoke and the toxic byproducts of the burning.
I supplied you with
information from the Canadian Lung Association. I hope you will read and re-read the marked passages,
concerning Open burning: human
health, what’s in the smoke, and chimineas.
I am sure you are all familiar with this brochure: Breathe Easy: City of Woodstock Smoking in Workplaces and Public Places
Bylaw. The first paragraph reads:
“The public has the right to breathe clean air. Smoke free workplaces and public places
protect the public and employees from involuntary exposure to second hand
smoke.”
If we are willing to protect “the public” and “employees”
from second-hand cigarette smoke, why are we not willing to protect the most
vulnerable - children and seniors – as well as everyone else, on their own
property and in their own homes, from recreational fire smoke? And what about the public using the
wonderful green spaces that Woodstock has to offer: the parks, playgrounds,
sports fields, golf courses, and the trail system, to name a few. Most of these are adjacent to
residential areas, and therefore vulnerable to contamination from “recreational
burning”.
This brochure tells me that if I were to light a cigarette
here in City Hall, for example,
I could be convicted under the bylaw and subject to a fine
of up to $5,000.00.
This document, the Open-Air Burning Policy, tells me how to
get a permit to subject my neighbourhood to hours of smoke and toxic byproducts.
What’s wrong here?
Does the left hand know what the right hand is doing?
In closing, I would like to return to the Open Air Burning
Policy. 2.2 (k) reads:
the owner, occupant or permit
holder must take steps to ensure that adjacent properties
are protected and that the
byproducts of open air burnings do not have a negative impact
on
persons, pets or the environment.
I suggest to you that said permit holder would need to be in
possession of supernatural powers in order to fulfill this requirement. No permit holder can confine the
smoke to his property, nor can he prevent other “persons or pets” in the
neighbourhood from inhaling the smoke.
Only you, your worship and members of Council, can offer
that protection to the citizens of Woodstock. And the only way to do it is to STOP recreational
burning.
I thank you for your attention here today, and being an
optimist, I thank you in advance for your action on this important matter.
COMMENTS:
These comments were "received as information".
Sympathy was expressed by Councillors Bes, Northcott, and Talbot.
Councillor Northcott: "I personally love the smell of wood burning; it doesn't make me sick or anything."
Councillor Talbot: "I have a wood-burning fireplace in my home in which I burn wood all the time because I love the fire and I love the smell of fire. I remember younger days at home when we used to be able to rake the leaves to the curb at the side of the road and burn them on the side of the road and everybody seemed to go out and do that and enjoy that."