Is the County's open-burning law working? What really changed?
I had been under the impression that, before all the hoop-de-lah about changing the law, open burning was allowed in the County only on week-ends and only during certain months of the year. Then the County Board toughened up the laws, presumably with respect to the health of County residents, and made the law effective County-wide. At the same time the County Board transferred the responsibility for enforcement from the Planning Department to the Health Department.
Makes sense to me. Health concerns? Have the Health Department handle it.
Wednesday afternoon, driving west on Country Club Road, I came upon a small sign on the shoulder that there was smoke ahead. And sure enough, at The Sanctuary a crew was burning tall grass and weeds in a field on the south side of Country Club Road.
I phoned the County Health Department. I'll tell you - by the time you navigate the voice tree and punch this number and that, the fire could have been out! But I finally reached a woman in the Health Department who inquired whether the burning was more than 500 feet from a house and told me the burning was legal.
I recalled an email I had sent to the County Board before they voted on the changes. It's not the burning that is the problem. It is the SMOKE that is the problem.
Returning to the fire, I also spoke with the foreman of the professional burn crew. She explained they had a permit for the burn and also that they had waited for a day when the wind was blowing north, so the smoke would not blow back to the south (and invade the expensive homes on the south side of Country Club Road).
When I mentioned the smoke problem for any passing motorist with respiratory problems, she mentioned the signs that had been put out. A driver on Country Club Road, though, is committed to proceeding. Just where do you safely turn around, if you don't wish to drive through the smoke???
Did the County Board really act to protect County residents? How many people have respiratory problems? I believe that I do not, yet my throat was raspy from just one pass through the smoke, and I had had the windows in my car closed. As the County continues to develop, residents must insist that the Board work harder for clean air.
2 comments:
Ah, you pussy. If you have no respiratory problems, how does your throat get "raspy" from just one pass of the smoke thats not even blowing across the road? Unlike you, many people don't drive through the smoke really slow trying to snap a picture. If they don't want to drive through the smoke, they can take one of the many roads winding through the sanctuary. If burning the overgrown brush is not practical, why don't you come up with another way to get rid of it with out using any chemicals?
This smoke is not harmful blowing through the air, black smoke is the toxic smoke that is hazardous to health.
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