Letter: Smoke Gets In Your Eyes

Smoke Gets In Your Eyes

I am amazed when I see people trying to set fire to piles of wet leaves. They are determined to burn the leaves if it is the last thing they do. It does not cross their minds that you can do something with leaves besides burning them. They pour gasoline on the leaves to get them started on fire, as long as there is smoke, they must be burning. They seem to be unable to figure out that wet leaves don’t want to burn.

The leaves do smolder which is a kind of burning without flame. This produces a large amount of carcinogenic (which for the uneducated means cancer causing) smoke which fills the sky for blocks around where the actual “fire” is smoldering.

Another interesting item concerning this is that most of these people consider themselves “law abiding”. The law states however, that fires (including smoldering) must be extinguished at dusk. Most of these smoke generating individuals do not do this and allow the smoldering to continue through the night.

The evening air is fouled by this crime and going for an evening walk requires a gas mask. People with asthma cannot go outside without having an asthma attack. The ones who commit this crime do not care about heath (especially someone else’s). It is a shame such selfish individuals exist.

– Bernie Hughes