It's another smoky hell of an evening in North St. Paul. Does that come as any surprise to you? It should not. What is surprising is when it isn't smoky in this town. We got two days of smoke-free air with no rain in July. We had a total of six smoke-free days that month including the four it rained.
8:00 PM: No wood smoke where we are. There will be more. Give it time.
At this time I went around the city for a little bit. It was early for recreational fires. Most do not get started until 9 PM or later. I was bored and wanted to get out of the house. I did not do a thorough search for wood smoke tonight. This was something to occupy me before turning in. My clothes got all smoky. A shower will be required before bed.
The pushpins on the map are approximate. When I placed them, they moved a little bit from the original spot.
Bonfires I saw
1) I saw a HUGE plume of smoke rising from a backyard on Chippewa around 8:15 PM. I could not smell wood smoke in front of the house but could smell it on 17th just north of Delaware. I could see from 2nd that a house on Chippewa was having the fire. It looked like they had some people over for some air pollution. A half-hour later 2nd St. was all smoked up.
One person has a fire and dozens, if not hundreds, have to breathe smoky air. Does that sound fair? That's how our city council makes us live.
2) A small but very smoky bonfire on the north side of Poplar just east of Lake Blvd. I was heading down Poplar when I saw light wood smoke haze in the headlights of a vehicle at the stop sign about 9 PM. Strong wood smoke in the area. I was at first glad it was smoky here because city council member Bob Bruton, a supporter of recreational burning, lives a couple of houses north of the burner. I was upset when I discovered the smoke from the fire was drifting south-southeast and Bruton probably wouldn't be able to smell it. It wasn't smoky in front of Bruton's house at all. I had difficultly breathing when I was right in front of the house of the burner. My body would not allow more than a shallow breath. Wood smoke is very hard on me. I can still feel heaviness in my lungs an hour later.
It was smoky of varying intensity all along the Poplar-Swan horseshoe. I could smell the wood smoke from that fire all along the southern edge of Silver Lake and all the way along 18th Ave. from Henry to west beyond Charles. The wood smoke smelled the same on 18th as on Poplar. I found no other burners in the area at the time. It had to be from the same source. That is a quarter-mile distance from the source. Wood smoke can travel much farther than that. One person has a fire and people a quarter-mile away have to breathe smoky air.
Around 9:30 PM the fire was extinguished. With the fire out you could still smell wood smoke in front of the house.
3) Maplewood bonfire. It was smoky all over the section of Maplewood bounded by Beam, McKnight, Lydia, and Helen/Bellaire. I found one bonfire on the northeast corner of E. Standridge & Mary St. As smoky as it was up there, I figure there had to be more than one burner producing smoke covering such a large area, about an eighth-mile square. But maybe not. The burner on Poplar smoked up a neighborhood a quarter-mile away. One burner can produce a lot of wood smoke.
Areas of smokiness
I could smell wood smoke all over the place. When I was out I could smell a faint trace at Shawnee & Chippewa getting stronger heading toward Beam (the smoke could have been coming from Maplewood). Faint wood smoke at Beam & Helen. Light wood smoke on Helen just north of Navajo. Strong wood smoke at Poplar & Lake. Light to moderate wood smoke all along the southern edge of Silver Lake. It was not very smoky at 18th & Margaret when I was by there. I thought it would be. Nothing more than a faint trace of wood smoke similar to what was blanketing much of the northern half of the city.
9:45 PM: Light wood smoke. Back home now. It smells a little like burning paper. Not pleasant. Ick.
10:05 PM: Light to moderate wood smoke. It's getting smokier outside quickly.
10:30 PM: Light to moderate wood smoke continues.
11:00 PM: Faint to light wood smoke. The intensity of the air pollution has decreased. Aren't we lucky? It is 67 degrees now. It would be nice to open the windows and enjoy the cool air like the city suggests we do in the city newsletter. Who wants a home to smell like wood smoke?
11:38 PM: Very faint trace of wood smoke remains. The air is clearing. Yay for us!
Any of you readers out there wish you lived in this city? Smoky air almost every day. I don't have asthma. I don't have allergies. I don't have any respiratory diseases. I am in good health. The smoky air in this city is hard on me. What do you think it would be like for an elderly person or a kid with asthma? If it is hard on me, it has to be killer on them.
