FIRES: Ruining a way of life

We all look forward to the first nice days when we can go outside after being shut in all winter. However, where I live, in the county by Hayden Lake, this is all ruined by people starting fires. Not only do they start fires, they let them burn all day, keeping all of their neighbors indoors.

As a child asthmatic, wood smoke and smoke from yard fires is especially dangerous. I must shut my house up and I can’t even go out to get my mail. My next door neighbor became seriously ill from smoke and she didn’t even have any lung problems.

Surely something can be done to limit this burning to a couple of days per month so all of us who are sensitive to smoke can plan indoor activities, or, at least, limit the length of these burns to one hour.

Also, there are many alternatives to burning. Yard waste can be hauled to the Kootenai County landfill. Yard waste can be composted. Yard waste can be chopped and spread on the forest floor to rot and to replenish the soil with nutrients. No one has to burn their yard waste. Burning household trash is illegal and grass burning has disappeared, why is yard waste burning still legal? It makes no sense at all.

Let’s do away with all household burning. There are simply too many people living in close proximity to each other to allow burning.

DONNA HARVEY

Hayden