Open Burning

[louise8744]

We moved to Kelowna last year, and there are so many things we like about the city...our only real disappointment is Kelowna's poor air quality due to open burning. Why isn't there more effort to protect the public?

[Swoop]

We moved to Kelowna last year, and there are so many things we like about the city...our only real disappointment is Kelowna's poor air quality due to open burning. Why isn't there more effort to protect the public?

...mainly because:
1) it's only for a very short period of time of the year;
2) there is no other cost effective/proven environmentally better alternative;
3) those adversely affected are few, and are far outweighed by #2...
...those 3 items won't sit well with many, but it's simply the way it is...

[StraitTalk]

...mainly because:
1) it's only for a very short period of time of the year;
2) there is no other cost effective/proven environmentally better alternative;
3) those adversely affected are few, and are far outweighed by #2...
...those 3 items won't sit well with many, but it's simply the way it is...

Drying your green-waste out and burning it at high heat would drastically reduce emissions.

[Swoop]

...mainly because:
1) it's only for a very short period of time of the year;
2) there is no other cost effective/proven environmentally better alternative;
3) those adversely affected are few, and are far outweighed by #2...
...those 3 items won't sit well with many, but it's simply the way it is...

Drying your green-waste out and burning it at high heat would drastically reduce emissions.

...couldn't agree more - a well managed burn pile should produce very little smoke once fully underway, and I think the large majority of experienced orchardists and large lot property owners understand how to burn as clean and efficient as possible...as with all things that generate complaints however, it only takes a few to spoil it for all those doing their best to comply...

[craigor46]

Live in North Rutland and another smoke filled hazy day , with a very strong wood smoke smell in air, couple more weeks and open burning will be over, hurray and then a couple of months until forest fire season, at least a couple of months reprive from smoke in the valley!!!

[Bubalouie]

Out for a drive last Saturday, no clue what the venting index or anything was, up near McCulloch, someone in an orchard was burning, thick black smoke billowing into the sky. Would dry piles or prunings, etc, produce black smoke like that?

[Grandan]

We moved to Kelowna last year, and there are so many things we like about the city...our only real disappointment is Kelowna's poor air quality due to open burning. Why isn't there more effort to protect the public?

There are numerous reasons why the air quality is worse in Kelowna. Kamloops has more wind due to the orientation of the Valley. There are more orchards which burn their waste in Kelowna because there are more orchards but that happens for a few months only in the spring. The farmers have a right to farm, it is legislated. A lot of the winter low air quality is due to wood burning appliances. I get to smell the stench of burning plastic on top of the wood smoke that belches out of my neighbours chimney. I would much rather have wood smoke than the stink of pulp mills.
There are other practices for getting rid of wood waste, grinding and composting seems better. My neighbours just dump the old stumps over the embankment into the creek.

[bob vernon]

The poor air quality in February and March is due to dust from the winter sand still on the streets. Once it is cleared by the street sweeping and the mixing layer deepens with the advance of spring, the air quality improves. Dust is the culprit, not smoke.

[Zoso]

Out for a drive last Saturday, no clue what the venting index or anything was, up near McCulloch, someone in an orchard was burning, thick black smoke billowing into the sky. Would dry piles or prunings, etc, produce black smoke like that?

Not unless they threw a bias ply tire in to get it going .