Small Yards, Fire Pits And Toxic Summer Skies

By Patricia Houser
For Nature’s Sake

Patricia Houser

Connecticut laws allow recreational fire pits in even densely settled neighborhoods – with the caveat, according the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection and town websites, that if it becomes a “nuisance” or health hazard to a neighbor, the offending fire should be stopped.

Try parsing out the particulars of that while your house and yard become so full of smoke from a neighbor’s fire that the smell clings to your hair and clothes, even after you leave for a walk or drive to a park for a breath of fresh air.

The law which prohibits someone from sending air pollution onto your property in our area is so awkward to implement, it is rarely invoked by beleaguered neighbors. And few people seem to realize the health implications of all that wood smoke hanging over our neighborhoods on warm summer evenings, with special risks for expectant mothers, babies and small children, any older adults and people with sinus, lung or heart conditions.

How do you approach an unwitting neighbor who you’ve never previously met to tell them, “Um, excuse me, you don’t know me and you seem very nice, but my household is in the downwind path of your fire?” What are you really asking them to do? What can you ask them to do?

Here’s the thing: that wood smoke is deadly dangerous for anyone downwind. And the frequency and duration of exposure in dense neighborhoods over the summer makes it a critical form of air pollution in Connecticut. Even one small backyard fire pit, providing a blazing centerpiece for someone’s evening contemplation, may affect an assortment of downwind neighbors of all ages who can smell the smoke in their yards and even within the walls of their homes – which is proof that they are also breathing in the kind of particulates and toxins that have been proven to damage health and shorten lives.

Burning wood generates an especially dangerous form of air pollution called PM_2.5. “PM” stands for “particulate matter,” and 2.5 is the size of these particles in micrometers. (A human hair is around 80 micrometers in diameter, and a grain of sand can be 90 micrometers.)

Humans are always, evidently, inhaling a few particles from our surroundings; however, the extra small category of PM_2.5 included in wood smoke, and the types of chemicals attached to these particles, can do extra damage because they not only reach our lungs – they cross over into our bloodstream and can reach the heart and brain. A 2019 meta-analysis in the journal Science and the Total Environment found links between PM_2.5 exposure and developmental disorders, stroke, dementia, Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease. A May 17, 2021 story in the New York Times cited new research suggesting that short-term exposure to polluted air, even at levels generally considered “acceptable,” can impair mental ability in older adults.

A group of public health experts from Yale University and the Connecticut-based Environment & Human Health, Inc. sounded an alarm in 2018 about recreational fire pits in their report, “The Harmful Effects of Wood Smoke and the Growth of Recreational Wood Burning.” That report verifies the links between wood smoke and increased risk of heart arrhythmias, heart attacks, stroke, breast cancer, asthma, diabetes, COPD, lung cancer and a number of other cancers.

The carcinogens that waft up from your fire pit specifically include 1,3 butadiene, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, benzene, formaldehyde and dioxin (dioxin is regarded by many scientists as the “most dangerous man-made poison”).

While I have emphasized the risk to particular segments of the population, the 2018 report, which draws from the results of more than 100 studies, provides more than enough cautionary notes for the general population, including the assertion that, quite simply, “short- and long-term exposures to PM_2.5 decrease life expectancy.”

The Connecticut scientists and policy experts who wrote the 2018 report recommend stronger regulations of wood smoke at every level. In the meantime, where neighborhood groups wish to protect their own air quality, there is room for collaboration and a bit of a “win-win” solution. Those who enjoy the ambiance of an evening beside an outdoor fire can opt for several lower-smoke alternatives, including an attractive propane pit fire table for a cost of around $200, or the smokeless (actually lower smoke) pit fire inserts and containers.

The reason to take that step, beyond neighborhood health, is that it would protect one’s own household better from wood smoke pollution and its consequences.

Patricia Houser, PhD, AICP, shares her exploration of local and regional environmental issues in this column as a member of the nonpartisan Milford Environmental Concerns Coalition.