Coon Rapids allows fires from 9 am to midnight. This summer has been the worst ever, by far, for stinky smoke from fires. Any time of the day, often all night, and most definitely every weekend. I believe lots of brush is being burned in fire pits. The only way the rules are enforced is by neighbors tattling on neighbors, and then hoping the fire department will follow up. This is an exceedingly poor way to safeguard public health.
Unless the Pollution Control Agency gets involved, I do not believe anything will change. Local politicians on city councils do not seem to care about the big picture when it comes to public health. This is very disturbing on very many levels. I can go to a restaurant and eat in a smoke-free environment, but there are evenings that I can't even taste my meal in my own house because of horrible smoke from neighborhood fires. I am totally disgusted by this situation. We live in the equivalent of a third-world country when it comes to air pollution from air smoke.
Earlier this summer I wrote to the Fixit columnist at the Star Tribune and asked if there were any municipalities in the Twin Cities area that do not allow recreational fires. I never got a response.
Your blog is getting noticed, and maybe eventually someone in the state with the power to stop recreational fires will get involved. Thank you for taking the time to document your smoke observations in your community.
Dear Coon Rapids resident:
I know exactly what you are going through. The wood smoke problem in North St. Paul keeps getting worse each year. Ten years ago, nobody burned wood recreationally. We could leave our windows open days or weeks at a time and never had to worry about wood smoke. Around 2003 or so things changed. Every once in a while there would be wood smoke in the evenings. Then it increased in frequency to the point where there is wood smoke in the air every evening with very few exceptions. People burned yard waste ten years ago. They burn it much more frequently now. Burning does nothing but encourage more burning. The problem will continue to get worse if nothing is done.
You are right about being able to enjoy a meal in a restaurant in a smoke-free environment but not being able to enjoy one in your own home. It makes little sense to me how any city leader can support the unnecessary recreational burning of wood and the air pollution that goes with it when such a small percentage of households burn, at least in my community. I estimate that 15% of the households within a quarter-mile of us burn wood. With about 190 houses in that radius, it is almost certain that one of them is going to burn any night, which is why the air is always smoky.
The people who burn wood frequently have issues. I do not understand the infatuation with burning wood. Most of the burners I have seen are men in their 40s and 50s. It is like they never matured, staying stuck in their boy scout days. Some of them burn almost every day and there is little we can do about it because our city council refuses to address it. One frequent burner nearby burns then leaves his fire smoldering all night long with his house windows closed. It is a nightmare. We can smell his smoke blocks away. The entire neighborhood reeks of his smoke and he sleeps in his house with his windows all closed up.
Do not expect any help at all from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. I made a complaint with them and it took them three weeks to tell me there was nothing they could do, that it was a nuisance issue that the city had to handle. One of our city council members, who lives not far from us, has a number of smoky burners around her. I've been by her house on a few smoky nights this summer and noticed the windows I could see from the street were all closed. Why would she close her windows on a cool summer evening unless the air is too smoky for her? If the air is too smoky for her, why doesn't she understand that we don't like the smoke either and do something about it? She has the power to do something about this wood smoke problem, we don't.
This blog was started to document the nightmare we endure living in North St. Paul, MN. It is one thing to say the air is smoky all the time. It is another to provide documentation that people can quantitatively use. All of our city council members know about this blog. I doubt they visit at all. I don't have many kind words for anyone who makes us breathe smoky air every day. I also want this blog to serve as a warning to anyone considering buying a home in this polluted hell of a city. North St. Paul is a very nice place to live except for the nightly wood smoke. The polluted air completely ruins the quality of life here.
Thank you for emailing me. I always appreciate emails in support. I've gotten emails from others across the metro area and people from around the country. I wish you the best in your struggle against wood smoke pollution. You seem to be aware that it is going to be an uphill battle against the uncaring people who govern our towns.
I'm considering offering free firewood to those living around our city council members next year. It won't be cheap, but if we have to breathe smoky air every day, they should, too.
