Campaign to address wood burning seeks cleaner air along Russian River

Life among the towering redwoods along the Russian River can be idyllic, but not when the temperature drops and folks fire up wood stoves to stay warm.

All too many of those stoves belch smoke that often shrouds the closely packed homes on wooded slopes and in canyons along the river from Forestville to Monte Rio, said Chuck Ramsey, president of the Russian River Alliance, a consortium of community groups.

“It seeps and settles in the redwoods, and it doesn’t dissipate,” said Ramsey, who is spearheading a campaign to address the problem, largely through educating residents on proper wood-burning practices.

Ramsey, a resident of The Terraces, a community of at least 200 homes on a hillside in Monte Rio overlooking the river, regularly breathes his neighbors’ smoke. From his laundry room, he can nearly touch the roof of one house and its chimney is about 20 feet away.

“It’s not like you can just close your doors and windows and keep it out,” he said. Wood-frame homes in The Terraces were built as summer cabins in the early 1900s and are hardly airtight, he said. Monte Rio and Rio Nido are hardest hit by smoke, Ramsey said, but the problem persists along the lower river.

But wood smoke pollution, readily visible on cold, dry, windless days, doesn’t register on the air quality monitor on the roof of the Veterans Memorial Hall in Guerneville, and thus doesn’t sully Sonoma County’s official record as a clean-air haven.

Two weeks ago, the county was hailed by the American Lung Association as one of only five in California without a single day in three years (2010-12) with ozone or particle pollution exceeding federal standards. Officials noted, however, that much of the county’s foul air is blown to the east, and the monitors only assess the air close by.

Wood smoke is a source of particle pollution, which triggers asthma and heart attacks, lung cancer and strokes. Children, whose lungs do not fully form until age 18, are especially at risk, the lung association says.

The lower river area lies within the Northern Sonoma County Air Pollution Control District, which has fewer wood burning regulations than the adjacent Bay Area Air Quality Management District, which covers the county up to Windsor and out past Sebastopol.

Alex Saschin, air quality engineer for the northern district, acknowledged that his agency has “limited jurisdiction” over wood stoves. By rule, any new wood stove must be EPA-certified, but the district has no control over existing stoves and cannot issue citations for excess smoke.

The district also has no Spare the Air days, when wood-burning is prohibited with the Bay Area district. But Saschin also noted that such bans wouldn’t necessarily improve matters in the river. Homes with no other heat source are exempt from the burn bans, and many river-area homes are in that category.

Propane and electric heaters are too expensive for many river residents, Ramsey said.

The northern district is in compliance with state and federal ambient air quality standards, said Rob Bamford, the air pollution control officer.

The regulators and Ramsey agree that much of the river area’s smoky air is caused by improper operation of wood stoves by people who burn damp wood or operate stoves without sufficient air flow. The district sends instructions on proper wood burning to residents whose stoves prompt complaints, Saschin said.

When flames get going in a properly operated wood stove there should be no more than a wisp of smoke coming from the chimney, he said.

Billowing smoke is not only harmful but also prevents the stove operator from getting the most heat for their money, Saschin said. “Smoke is unburned fuel going up your chimney,” he said.

Mary Ellen Jackson, who lives in The Terraces above Ramsey’s home, is ringed by neighbors who burn wood in stoves when it’s chilly and frequently burn yard waste outside in warmer weather.

“We’re surrounded,” she said, standing on her back deck. The smoke “sits here until it rains and clears the air.”

The last two winters have been especially smoky due to the drought, with few storms to stir the air, Ramsey and Jackson said.

Jackson, who is susceptible to pneumonia, doesn’t stick around in any case. She and her husband spend December through April in Mexico “because we just can’t live here,” she said, even with an indoor air purifier.

Open burns also are an irritant on The Terraces, and Ramsey said he is amazed by the ease with which people living so close to one another can get burn permits.

Location is not a factor in granting permits, Saschin said.

Education is the best remedy for smoking stoves, he said.

“If we can get people to burn properly, it would be a significant reduction in wood smoke,” he said.

You can reach Staff Writer Guy Kovner at 521-5457 or guy.kovner@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @guykovner.