Burning questions in Graton

[touchofvenus]

Thank god, I thought I was the only one who in upset with the status quo policy of out of control agro burning. I have called the Graton fire dept asking what can be done about this. They say that it is out of their hands as long as people have the proper permints and only burn on "burn days". They do offer an education program for alternitive methods of disposial such as Chipping and mulching. Sounds like a wonderful way to deal this issue. Chip, mulch and haul jobs would be created. These "chippers" would travel all over our county providing a reasonable, efficient service, that would show up at your property, and either chip and mulch (which helps with water retention, anti weed growth etc...) or chip and haul away the mulch and deliver to interested parties who now pay for such materials.

Second. I have been on the phone with the Air quality control office in Healdsburg
several times in the last few years begging them to do something about this problem. They told me that they hardly ever get "complaints". You can reach them at 707)433-5911.They tell me that it is out of their hands. That it has "always been this way" and that it is not cost effective for the vineyards and orchards as well as regular folks to find alternitive methods. I was told that all burns must be extinguished by 3:00 p.m. on "burn days" and that dence fog was a problem as the smoke looms in a choking way.

This is it folks, this is how we are being protected by the current powers that be. I have been wanting to start up a grass roots alliance of those of us concerned with this utter disreguard for our right to breath fresh air in our beautiful county. As it stands, once again our tax dollars are hard at work for a handful of businesses and landowners who feel intitled to proceed along without considering their neighbors.

With fuel costs sky rocketing,inflation rising, jobs lost, wages down, people need to heat their homes, feed themselves, pay bills etc.... There are lots of restrictions on home fireplaces. Would it not be better to change the system as it stands now to allow only nessesary burning such as heating our homes?

Please, if all of us band together and address this problem, it would be a win win situaition for everyone.

Call Air Quality Control at: 707)433-5911

If enough of us speak up, our voices will be heard.

Burning season dose not end until the end of May, beginning of June which means 3 more months of bad air.

Thank you all,
Shayna

[Zeno Swijtink]

Thank god, I thought I was the only one who in upset with the status quo policy of out of control agro burning. I have called the Graton fire dept asking what can be done about this. They say that it is out of their hands as long as people have the proper permints and only burn on "burn days". They do offer an education program for alternitive methods of disposial such as Chipping and mulching. Sounds like a wonderful way to deal this issue. Chip, mulch and haul jobs would be created. These "chippers" would travel all over our county providing a reasonable, efficient service, that would show up at your property, and either chip and mulch (which helps with water retention, anti weed growth etc...) or chip and haul away the mulch and deliver to interested parties who now pay for such materials.

Second. I have been on the phone with the Air quality control office in Healdsburg
several times in the last few years begging them to do something about this problem. They told me that they hardly ever get "complaints". You can reach them at 707)433-5911.They tell me that it is out of their hands. That it has "always been this way" and that it is not cost effective for the vineyards and orchards as well as regular folks to find alternitive methods. I was told that all burns must be extinguished by 3:00 p.m. on "burn days" and that dence fog was a problem as the smoke looms in a choking way.

This is it folks, this is how we are being protected by the current powers that be. I have been wanting to start up a grass roots alliance of those of us concerned with this utter disreguard for our right to breath fresh air in our beautiful county. As it stands, once again our tax dollars are hard at work for a handful of businesses and landowners who feel intitled to proceed along without considering their neighbors.

With fuel costs sky rocketing,inflation rising, jobs lost, wages down, people need to heat their homes, feed themselves, pay bills etc.... There are lots of restrictions on home fireplaces. Would it not be better to change the system as it stands now to allow only nessesary burning such as heating our homes?

Please, if all of us band together and address this problem, it would be a win win situaition for everyone.

Call Air Quality Control at: 707)433-5911

If enough of us speak up, our voices will be heard.

Burning season dose not end until the end of May, beginning of June which means 3 more months of bad air.

Thank you all,
Shayna

Thank you for speaking up and taking an initiatve. Another route is to involve the Sonoma County Asthma Coalition:

Shan Magnuson, MA
Asthma Project Director
Sonoma County Asthma Coalition
American Lung Association of California, Redwood Empire Branch
115 Talbot Avenue
Santa Rosa, CA 95404
(707) 527-5864 FAX (707) 542-6111
[email protected]

[oldrose]

Hi Sahyna,
I too am at odds with the burners in our county. Whenever I see someone burning on a beautiful clear day I wonder ,WHAT ARE THEY THINKING ? Or are they thinking at all? As far as I am concerned they are smoking huge cigarettes and I get to breathe in their second hand smoke. The rate of asthma is on a sharp rise in Sonoma County, I have developed it in the last year and it is directly caused by particulates in the air. I work with children who have to take steroids so they can breathe, these are little babies from 2 to 4 years old, it is a matter of life and breath. I don’t see this county making any changes. I know that in Santa Cruz county the county offers industrial chippers to the agribusinesses so their air quality isn’t affected by the burning days. So all of you burners out there, think before you burn, you are impacting the health of the people around you.
Teresa


Thank god, I thought I was the only one who in upset with the status quo policy of out of control agro burning. I have called the Graton fire dept asking what can be done about this. They say that it is out of their hands as long as people have the proper permints and only burn on "burn days". They do offer an education program for alternitive methods of disposial such as Chipping and mulching. Sounds like a wonderful way to deal this issue. Chip, mulch and haul jobs would be created. These "chippers" would travel all over our county providing a reasonable, efficient service, that would show up at your property, and either chip and mulch (which helps with water retention, anti weed growth etc...) or chip and haul away the mulch and deliver to interested parties who now pay for such materials.

Second. I have been on the phone with the Air quality control office in Healdsburg
several times in the last few years begging them to do something about this problem. They told me that they hardly ever get "complaints". You can reach them at 707)433-5911.They tell me that it is out of their hands. That it has "always been this way" and that it is not cost effective for the vineyards and orchards as well as regular folks to find alternitive methods. I was told that all burns must be extinguished by 3:00 p.m. on "burn days" and that dence fog was a problem as the smoke looms in a choking way.

This is it folks, this is how we are being protected by the current powers that be. I have been wanting to start up a grass roots alliance of those of us concerned with this utter disreguard for our right to breath fresh air in our beautiful county. As it stands, once again our tax dollars are hard at work for a handful of businesses and landowners who feel intitled to proceed along without considering their neighbors.

With fuel costs sky rocketing,inflation rising, jobs lost, wages down, people need to heat their homes, feed themselves, pay bills etc.... There are lots of restrictions on home fireplaces. Would it not be better to change the system as it stands now to allow only nessesary burning such as heating our homes?

Please, if all of us band together and address this problem, it would be a win win situaition for everyone.

Call Air Quality Control at: 707)433-5911

If enough of us speak up, our voices will be heard.

Burning season dose not end until the end of May, beginning of June which means 3 more months of bad air.

Thank you all,
Shayna

[Graton Fire]

Hi Shayna,

Thank you for posting information about burning in Sonoma County. Here is some additional background for those that are interested:

The County (as well as the Graton Fire District) is split into two air quality districts... Northern Sonoma County Air Quality District (707-433-5911) and Bay Area Air Quality Management District (www.baaqmd.gov (https://www.baaqmd.gov), 415-749-5118). The "North" as we call it includes properties north of Graton Rd, West of Sullivan, North of Green Valley, and West of Vine Hill Roads. For a map, click here (https://gratonfire.com/burnpermits.html). This air quality region is controlled out of their office in Healdsburg. In order to burn, properties must obtain an approved permit to burn and follow the guidelines.

In the "South", the regulations are very strict as the same rules apply from our county all the way to San Jose. Essentially, if it can be chipped or hauled away, then it cannot be burned. There are exceptions for diseased wood/vegetation and for-profit agricultural properties. There is some talk about even stronger requirements coming soon.

Both Air Quality Districts are 100% responsible for approving, tracking, and enforcing the burning regulations. If you have questions, we highly encourage you to call them... they set the regulations and are in the best position to explain them. If necessary, they will request our presence to extinguish fires that are not permitted. The 9-1-1 dispatchers will also send us to unsafe/out-of-control fires. As a reminder, warming fires and cooking fires are not subject to the air quality regulations; however, they still must be safe.

If there are additional questions, please don't hesitate to post them publicly or privately to us. My email and contact numbers are below.

Thank you for everyone's support of the Graton Fire Department. As the busiest, all volunteer department in Sonoma County, we appreciate it.


Bill Bullard, Deputy Chief
Graton Fire Protection District<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p>
3205 Ross Road, P.O. Box A<o:p></o:p>
Graton, CA 95444<o:p></o:p>
mailto:[email protected] ([email protected])https://www.gratonfire.com (https://www.gratonfire.com/)707-823-5515 ext. 3707-823-7251 fax<o:p></o:p>




Thank god, I thought I was the only one who in upset with the status quo policy of out of control agro burning. I have called the Graton fire dept asking what can be done about this. They say that it is out of their hands as long as people have the proper permints and only burn on "burn days". They do offer an education program for alternitive methods of disposial such as Chipping and mulching. Sounds like a wonderful way to deal this issue. Chip, mulch and haul jobs would be created. These "chippers" would travel all over our county providing a reasonable, efficient service, that would show up at your property, and either chip and mulch (which helps with water retention, anti weed growth etc...) or chip and haul away the mulch and deliver to interested parties who now pay for such materials.

Second. I have been on the phone with the Air quality control office in Healdsburg
several times in the last few years begging them to do something about this problem. They told me that they hardly ever get "complaints". You can reach them at 707)433-5911.They tell me that it is out of their hands. That it has "always been this way" and that it is not cost effective for the vineyards and orchards as well as regular folks to find alternitive methods. I was told that all burns must be extinguished by 3:00 p.m. on "burn days" and that dence fog was a problem as the smoke looms in a choking way.

This is it folks, this is how we are being protected by the current powers that be. I have been wanting to start up a grass roots alliance of those of us concerned with this utter disreguard for our right to breath fresh air in our beautiful county. As it stands, once again our tax dollars are hard at work for a handful of businesses and landowners who feel intitled to proceed along without considering their neighbors.

With fuel costs sky rocketing,inflation rising, jobs lost, wages down, people need to heat their homes, feed themselves, pay bills etc.... There are lots of restrictions on home fireplaces. Would it not be better to change the system as it stands now to allow only nessesary burning such as heating our homes?

Please, if all of us band together and address this problem, it would be a win win situaition for everyone.

Call Air Quality Control at: 707)433-5911

If enough of us speak up, our voices will be heard.

Burning season dose not end until the end of May, beginning of June which means 3 more months of bad air.

Thank you all,
Shayna

[Sciguy]

I want to weigh in from a different perspective, namely that of Zero Waste, which is a subject I wrote a book about. We have been afflicted with the garbage mentality for so long that we take its absurdities for granted. Anything we don't happen to want at the moment becomes undifferentiated garbage and the authorities are only too happy to indulge our tantrums. We turn to KILLING weeds or insects or animals when they get in our way and never consider living with or alongside them (not the people on this BB of course). So extra brush or tree limbs become just one more annoyance, something to be gotten rid of as soon as possible by the simplest means, which is usually burning. Actually, wood from trees is a resource, not a garbage. The way to make use of that resource is to separate out the various kinds, such as hardwoods and softwoods, large limbs and small ones and treat them differently. The garbage companies fight for all of the wood so that they can grind it all up and put it over the dump faces. People get excited about the green (chromated, arsenic treated) lumber and want to just get rid of it somehow by lumping it in their minds with all the other unwanted wood when the simple solution is to put it aside and use it for those applications where the chemical treatment is a positive feature. Thus the garbage attitude leads to burning and to assaults upon all other resources in their turn (such as non-repairable machines and appliances). By providing chippers, the local wood resources could be turned to chips and mulches which at least have some benefits and provide organic nutrients as they decay. So burning wood opens a window on the larger issue of disrespecting the earth's bounty. Stopping of burning is just one aspect of eliminating the psychology of wanton garbage creation which permeates our society and replacing it with Zero Waste strategies where all products are designed at all levels with zero discard and maximum reuse.

I look forward to the day when all the dumps and incinerators in the world are closed forever and Zero Waste thinking rules the day.

Paul Palmer



Hi Sahyna,
I too am at odds with the burners in our county. Whenever I see someone burning on a beautiful clear day I wonder ,WHAT ARE THEY THINKING ? Or are they thinking at all? As far as I am concerned they are smoking huge cigarettes and I get to breathe in their second hand smoke. The rate of asthma is on a sharp rise in Sonoma County, I have developed it in the last year and it is directly caused by particulates in the air. I work with children who have to take steroids so they can breathe, these are little babies from 2 to 4 years old, it is a matter of life and breath. I don’t see this county making any changes. I know that in Santa Cruz county the county offers industrial chippers to the agribusinesses so their air quality isn’t affected by the burning days. So all of you burners out there, think before you burn, you are impacting the health of the people around you.
Teresa

[joah]

I am glad to see other folks concerned about the all pollution going into our air due to the unnecessary agricultural burning in the Graton area. As Shayna writes: "there are lots of restrictions on home fireplaces. Would it not be better to change the system as it stands now to allow only necessary burning such as heating our homes?"


POSSSIBLE ACTIONS TO TAKE AND PEOPLE TO CALL

I think that the idea the of the town sending around wood chipper to area farms is a good one. Also offering educational programs on large scale composting geared toward farmers might be helpful. I think Zeno's idea of getting the Sonoma County Asthma Coalition involved is a good one.


I've been thinking about trying to introduce a long-term, legislative solution to the problem. Toward that end, I've called Board members of the Bay Area Quality Management District who, I believe, have the authority to introduce such legislation. The Bay Area Air Quality Management District also regulates burning in the Graton area. Their number is (415) 771- 6000. The number to call in a complaint (which, in my experience, won't do you any good, unless you enjoy hearing that the folks doing the burning probably have permits, and there's nothing they can do about the problem) is (800) 334-6367. The BAAQMD Board of Director's website is:
www.baaqmd.gov/brd/brddirectors/index.htm


Supervisor Jerry Hill (650) 363-4568 is the Chair of the Board of Directors of the BAAQMD. I have spoken with his aide, Eric (650) 363-4314.


Pamela Tooliet, the mayor of Petaluma, is the vice-chair of the BAQMD Board. Her number is 763-6825. I haven't her back from her yet.

Tim Smith is the Sonoma County Representative on the Air Quality Board. His number is 565-2241. I have spoken with his aide, Alison.

Mike Reily is our 5th District Representative. His number is 565-2241. I have spoken with his aide, Carol.

David Farr is the inspector in charge of enforcing buring regulations in the Graton area. His number is (415) 749-5084.

I think that if everyone concerned about this burning/air quality issue called these offices in the next week or so, and expressed their concerns, we might have a real chance of instituting some change in the regulations. A large number of folks calling would be a real wake-up call to the our Representatives.



Thanks to all who have spoken up and expressed concern about the quality of our air,

Josh

[Reportanddeport]

The purpose of burning is to kill diseases. Chipping and mulching doesn't kill diseases.

[Braggi]

Well, Reportanddeport, I think the reason for burning is that the people doing it think it's the cheapest and easiest way to solve a problem. I would add to your comment that chipping and composting does kill diseases. Spreading fresh chips around your yard or vineyard could spread diseases, I suppose. That's logical, but I've never heard of it happening.

Most homeowners have little to fear from diseased chips. Vineyards are special cases but most of what is burned in and around vineyards is not diseased vines, but brush and trees cleared or reduced in size to make room for more grape vines. All of that material could easily be chipped.

For those who do burn and have never tried using a big chipper, do rent one next time you have a big pile of brush. They are actually fun to use, require little effort (the modern ones feed themselves at a controlled rate once you start the branch) and they can turn a vast and huge pile of brush into useful chips in minutes. They are so fast it's probably cheaper to rent one and chip your brush than it is to pay someone to set fire to it and watch it burn, which in my experience takes a lot of hours if you have any substantial wood in there. Split the cost of rental with your neighbor since you won't need it all day and he has piles of brush too. Be sure to use ear protection. I use ear plugs and headphone style protection both when I use a big chipper.

I bought a little 8 horse power Troy Built some time back and it does all the chipping I need. I bought it used for $400. I wouldn't suggest a smaller one.

One more thing: I often see pressure treated lumber and posts as well as chunks of plywood and particle board in burn piles. Please, please, please don't burn these things. They should be reused for other projects or disposed of in land fills. They don't belong in a burn pile or in compost.

-Jeff

[Reportanddeport]

Burning is a part of nature. It is part of the lifecycles of many species of trees, such as our local knobcone pine. Plants are adapted to exploit burn cycles because there are abundunt minerals and light after a burn. Fire and burning is not an enemy, but the creation of excess smoke in populated areas is not good. So it's heavily regulated by the Bay Area Air Quality Management District.

But burning has long been recognized as a good way of destroying disease, and it always will be.

Killing is a necessary part of living too. You kill things that harm you, for instance fleas, mosquitoes or weeds.

But of course a confrontational approach in agriculture can be a pain. When you're a farmer, you have to decide whether you want several bushels of vegetables or several bushels of weeds. When you want more veggies than weeds, you have to kill the weeds.

I think the issue should be, "is the burning for the destruction of disease or the elimination of yard waste?". The destruction of disease is necessary, but the burning of yard waste should not be legal in populated areas.



I want to weigh in from a different perspective, namely that of Zero Waste, which is a subject I wrote a book about. We have been afflicted with the garbage mentality for so long that we take its absurdities for granted. Anything we don't happen to want at the moment becomes undifferentiated garbage and the authorities are only too happy to indulge our tantrums. We turn to KILLING weeds or insects or animals when they get in our way and never consider living with or alongside them (not the people on this BB of course). So extra brush or tree limbs become just one more annoyance, something to be gotten rid of as soon as possible by the simplest means, which is usually burning. Actually, wood from trees is a resource, not a garbage. The way to make use of that resource is to separate out the various kinds, such as hardwoods and softwoods, large limbs and small ones and treat them differently. The garbage companies fight for all of the wood so that they can grind it all up and put it over the dump faces. People get excited about the green (chromated, arsenic treated) lumber and want to just get rid of it somehow by lumping it in their minds with all the other unwanted wood when the simple solution is to put it aside and use it for those applications where the chemical treatment is a positive feature. Thus the garbage attitude leads to burning and to assaults upon all other resources in their turn (such as non-repairable machines and appliances). By providing chippers, the local wood resources could be turned to chips and mulches which at least have some benefits and provide organic nutrients as they decay. So burning wood opens a window on the larger issue of disrespecting the earth's bounty. Stopping of burning is just one aspect of eliminating the psychology of wanton garbage creation which permeates our society and replacing it with Zero Waste strategies where all products are designed at all levels with zero discard and maximum reuse.

I look forward to the day when all the dumps and incinerators in the world are closed forever and Zero Waste thinking rules the day.

Paul Palmer

[nicofrog]

OK OK OK ;
we had this whole discussion LAST SPRING when some yuppy woman was freaking out over woodsmoke smog;Well or a well meaning environmentalist!! Just think , if everyone started COMPOSTING that would reduce trash weight by 3/4 and save Millions of tons of gross smelling diesel fuel from being pumped into the air every morning while you are still asleep.
Chances are the apple tree smoke was here a good 100 years before the complainers moved in, now its "get rid of that" so many of us have trouble with discomfort...,but in terms of smog, ag. burning does not even add up to California's NORMAL lightning fire burns which have been suppressed as much as possible in Marin and Sonoma for years,creating dangerous fuel loads that should be(sorry) burnt before a tragedy happens like L, a. or Oakland.
Chipper shredders,bless them ( I am a composter, I adore woodchips,mulch with them and you won't have to weed so much!
but Chipper shredders are (sorry 0-waste guy)GROSS POLLUTERS
yeah sorry,they have never been regulated like cars, they don't make a
hybrid shredder yet...hmmmm....
SEARCH the old arguments about this whole thing on wacco , and
remember the Native Americans who used to own pretty much all of Graton burned around oaks, and it seems to help with sudden oak death, so why don't you Non ag. agros, invite an apple farmer up to your place to burn pile his apple wood around your precious oaks, with a little oak mixed in, and you can have a combo tri-tip,vegan barbeque and prepare for the times when we are all going to get to learn to work together a bit more!
whee isn't this fun
Nico



Thank god, I thought I was the only one who in upset with the status quo policy of out of control agro burning. I have called the Graton fire dept asking what can be done about this. They say that it is out of their hands as long as people have the proper permints and only burn on "burn days". They do offer an education program for alternitive methods of disposial such as Chipping and mulching. Sounds like a wonderful way to deal this issue. Chip, mulch and haul jobs would be created. These "chippers" would travel all over our county providing a reasonable, efficient service, that would show up at your property, and either chip and mulch (which helps with water retention, anti weed growth etc...) or chip and haul away the mulch and deliver to interested parties who now pay for such materials.

Second. I have been on the phone with the Air quality control office in Healdsburg
several times in the last few years begging them to do something about this problem. They told me that they hardly ever get "complaints". You can reach them at 707)433-5911.They tell me that it is out of their hands. That it has "always been this way" and that it is not cost effective for the vineyards and orchards as well as regular folks to find alternitive methods. I was told that all burns must be extinguished by 3:00 p.m. on "burn days" and that dence fog was a problem as the smoke looms in a choking way.

This is it folks, this is how we are being protected by the current powers that be. I have been wanting to start up a grass roots alliance of those of us concerned with this utter disreguard for our right to breath fresh air in our beautiful county. As it stands, once again our tax dollars are hard at work for a handful of businesses and landowners who feel intitled to proceed along without considering their neighbors.

With fuel costs sky rocketing,inflation rising, jobs lost, wages down, people need to heat their homes, feed themselves, pay bills etc.... There are lots of restrictions on home fireplaces. Would it not be better to change the system as it stands now to allow only nessesary burning such as heating our homes?

Please, if all of us band together and address this problem, it would be a win win situaition for everyone.

Call Air Quality Control at: 707)433-5911

If enough of us speak up, our voices will be heard.

Burning season dose not end until the end of May, beginning of June which means 3 more months of bad air.

Thank you all,
Shayna