Burning issue: Gasping for breath
In the winter, Butte County suffers from a number of bad air quality days that have serious health consequences for the elderly and those with respiratory conditions. We examine the politics and science behind the debate over whether wood stove-generated smoke pollution constitutes a threat to residents’ health. In a county with a long history of heavy dependence on stoves as a source of heat and a bountiful supply of inexpensive wood, this is a heated question.
In the winter, Butte County suffers from a number of bad air quality days that have serious health consequences for the elderly and those with respiratory conditions. We examine the politics and science behind the debate over whether wood stove-generated smoke pollution constitutes a threat to residents’ health. In a county with a long history of heavy dependence on stoves as a source of heat and a bountiful supply of inexpensive wood, this is a heated question.
On the evening of Dec. 8 last year, Butte County residents hurried home from work, eager to reach the warmth of their homes. The area was in the grip of a cold snap, with highs in the mid-40s for several days and overnight temperatures in the low 20s.
The city of Chico's proposed wood-burning ordinance is based on the air pollution control rule that was rejected by the Butte County Air Quality Management District's board last September.
This chart shows hourly particulate pollution levels as measured at the Chico air pollution monitor, installed and operated by the California Air Resources Board.
The real cause of Chico's particulate pollution problem, some skeptics say, is the California Air Resources Board's pollution monitor in town.
Why is there only one? Why is it right next to the freeway, where it will surely show higher air pollution numbers?
"Fines for people who want to heat their homes with wood? It's a very unnatural thing. It's ludicrous."
So said Nancy Lambrix, 79, who burns wood and plans to continue "until I leave this world."
When 82-year-old Darrell McGillis steps outside to fetch the newspaper on a cool winter morning, his lungs serve as his personal barometer. If Chico's air is thick with chimney smoke, his nostrils and lungs begin to burn.
Dr. Mark Miller has seen firsthand how wood smoke can affect the lungs of Butte County's youngest residents.
As a Chico pediatrician for 13 years, he treated many local infants and children exposed to smoke from wood-burning stoves and fireplaces.
Science is swiftly turning upside down the common notion that a fire built with wood is kinder to humans' well-being than gas and other modern fuels.
The Enterprise-Record asked physicians, research scientists and other experts in Chico and nationwide how tiny particles and other ingredients of wood smoke may affect people's health.
Satellite images show the city of Chico nearly surrounded by miles of neatly separated rectangles of trees, all in tidy orchards along Anita, Dayton, and Chico River roads.
The wood from just four of those trees can heat a Butte County home for a year, So it's little wonder that Merilee Lambert's family has been able to make a living selling wood-burning stoves since her grandfather opened up shop in 1937.
For Chico couple Sarah and Ron Young, burning wood is not about the sounds and smells of a roaring fireplace, or evoking fond memories of hearthside family gatherings.
It is about economic necessity.
"I love my wood stove. I burn it as often as I can," said Cece Bunch, 60, who lives in south Chico.
Bunch, who retired from Bank of America, lives with her husband on a limited income and finds wood an affordable source of heat.
Butte County's clean air experts recently scraped together $20,000 for a program to help pay residents using wood heat to buy cleaner-burning stoves.
Year after year, Ann Marie Robinson longed for the money to replace the old wood-burning stove in the fireplace of her Chico living room.
She hates the cold, and the stove — at least 21 years old — didn't burn hot enough to keep her warm. For five years, she had suffered from a cough that her doctors couldn't explain.
They burn pollutants that would otherwise get into the air, said Marilee Lambert, office manager at Lambert's Masonry Supply, which sells the stoves in Chico.
Wood stove regulation is old hat in Reno, as wood-burning limitations have been in effect since 1987.
And unlike Chico, the process wasn't terribly contentious, at least not in the memory of Andy Goodrich, director of the Air Quality Management Division of the Washoe County Health District.
Our view: Swapping out older wood stoves for newer stoves is the solution. Political leaders can and should find funding to help that happen.
Ray Rummell drives a full-size pickup and says he's no "environmental nut."
But when it comes to wood smoke, he doesn't want it.
The biggest contributors to air pollution in Butte County are cars and trucks. But they're minor players when it comes to the winter particulate pollution problem, according to air pollution officials.
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