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Venting over inconsiderate backyard burners

Anyone with brains can access a weather report and a venting index
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Venting over inconsiderate backyard burners

It’s a calm day, and a damp one at Shawnigan Lake, a good day to go out for a walk and breathe in the almost 100 per cent humidity, evergreen scented air.

BUT, uh oh, I spoke to soon, today I do my usual look out the window after rising to see what the day has in store for me, thinking it’s a bit misty (from the lake) I believe it to be a good day for me. I go outside to do something and instead of mist find that my neighbour thinks that he can burn at any time, and it effects no one.

Venting is an easy thing to comprehend and there is actually a place you can go to find out what the venting is and will be for a couple of days in your area. The ability of the local environment to disperse smoke from fires is the real purpose, and to help others to judge, if they have health problems, what could be happening in the air we breathe.

I have heated my home for a good 25 years with wood, and have never created such a large amount of smoke near my location in that time. It is outdoor burning and no consideration for people that has gone too far. Anyone with brains can access a weather report and a venting index these days — it’s everywhere — TV, smart phones, radio, computers, even watches. So there is no real excuse for creating large amounts of smoke on still days.

I have lived in Cobble Hill and Shawnigan for 20 years, and have done many things, in my life; some have contributed to what’s called COPD (emphysema) which I was diagnosed with a year ago. Before you tell me to move, I support people who heat their houses with wood (this way), I can live with that! The inconsiderate people who on a still day can smoke out an area of three square miles or more, sorry! You can burn on a better day AND have dry material to add if smoke starts to become a problem. After this I’m calling the smoke police, I’m done with it! Now that’s venting — well kinda.

Don Richardson

Shawnigan Lake