Will Residents Rights Go Up in Smoke?

• Why The City of Niagara Falls, Ontario Should Stand By Its Ban On Backyard Fires

A Commentary by Karl Dockstader

The City of Niagara Falls, Ontario  currently has a ban on open air burning/backyard campfires. Were it not for the persistence of some residents deeply concerned with the health and welfare of themselves and their fellow residents that law might have been repealed with no real forum, no substantiate research, and no proper consideration.

The simple pleasure of allowing backyard fires has traditionally been overruled by concern for safety and welfare. Conventional thinking has been that one death caused by a backyard fire is one death too many. One hospital visit for a vulnerable person is one hospital visit too many.

The only argument in favour of repealing the bylaw is: “I like fires.”

With that bullet proof case ready to go the law was set to be changed. All the way back in August concerned residents pushed the City Council of Niagara Falls for a forum on the issue of solid wood burning.

“What can you do to protect our health now that you know about our needs?” asked a couple dozen speakers to the City Councillors in Niagara Falls.

While a handful of speakers reminisced about lazy summers with a cool beer and wood fires ablaze the vast majority of packed room’s speakers told heart wrenching tales of their suffering.

Brave people shared their names and addresses on the public record and pleaded with the leadership to protect them. There were tales of hospitalisation, being bed ridden for days, and having no way to avoid the sometimes paralysing effects of the smoke. Health studies were shared. Tales of damage and even the life and death risk of an un-contained fire were shared with the Mayor and council.

To what effect? That night no resolution would come and unfortunately for the people who publicly shared their vulnerability this looks like too many councillors may have pre-decided that backyard fires are crucial to Niagara Falls residency rights.

It’s easy to relate to the mayor and councillors who are advocating for this change. Who doesn’t have fond memories of sitting around a campfire on a cool summer evening toasting marshmallows and taking in good company? It seems like such a simple joy.

Is that simple joy worth the pain and suffering of a surprisingly large group of people dispersed all throughout the city? The right to pleasure should be easily trumped by the right to lead a healthy life.

Camp grounds and sparsely populated areas are suitable to open air fires, not a densely populated city that is aiming to expand as rapidly as possible at every turn.

As a parent when I hear of a nut allergy at my children’s school I don’t grumble about my kid’s right to a Skippy sandwich, I explain to my caring youngster how all they have to do is put up with the inconvenience of not having PB and J and they get to help a classmate of theirs enjoy their right to a healthy shared space.

Adhering to a peanut allergy alert is not a choice is it? Can we just vote on whether our right to Jiffy outweighs a child’s right to live through school?

I would hope that the rights of the vulnerable are on the radar of every city councillor who heard the impassioned pleas of residents in need.

People asked to keep a law that represented common sense and sound judgement in place and the leadership in the city may disregard the request by a simple majority. There is nothing simple about the complications that wood smoke causes for children, the elderly and the vulnerable people who have until now had a city that has progressed towards fresher air.

Mayor and Council deferred the decision to a later date creating an opportunity for people to weigh in in favour of clean air.

If you agree it is important to #KeepTheBan then I encourage you to show your support to the Mayor and Council: https://www.change.org/p/jim-diodati-mayor-of-niagara-falls-working-toward-a-greener-cleaner-air-in-niagara-falls

Reasons to keep the open air burning ban in place:

• Clean air is an important right for which progress has been hard fought
• Smoke particulates are intrusive, persistent and harmful
• Wood smoke is 12 times more harmful than cigarette smoke according to the US EPA
• Some intoxicants released such as toulene cause the same effects as sniffing glue
• Wood smoke aggravates respiratory and circulatory conditions like asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, bronchitis and others
• With an ageing population the realities of the financial strain on the healthcare system caused by neglecting this risk creates an unfair burden on society
• The risk of damage from deadly and expensive fires is greatly increased by allowing back yard fires
• People for whom the smoke is traumatic have no recourse with which to avoid it’s effects

Reason(s) to lift the ban:

• “I like fires”

The easy thing to do is not often the right thing to do. Would you consider helping the Niagara Falls Clean Air Association in its uphill battle to #KeepTheBan?  For more information visit http://nfcaa.info/ .

Karl Dockstader is a Niagara Falls, Turtle Island resident who has publicly advocated for the environment and has personally witnessed the havoc that rampant wood smoke has wreaked on a close beloved family member.

Visit Niagara At Large at www.niagaraatlarge.com for more news and commentary for and from the greater bi-national Niagara region.

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For more information visit http://nfcaa.info/ .