The photos below were taken in Courtenay, Cumberland, Comox and CVRD in November 2016.
These are not being shared to target specific homes. The intent is to show that the air we share can be significantly affected by even one stove or fire; these photos highlight how smoke travels from house to house, or onto nearby roads and walkways.
Every chimney and backyard burn pumps out the equivalent of thousands of cigarettes each burn, for hours on end, right where others live and breathe.
In just 9 hours of burning, one uncertified wood stove can pump out as many fine particulates as a car driving 18,000 kilometers. That's like driving a car from Vancouver to Calgary and back every night.
Even a certified stove pumps out much more PM2.5 than any other non-wood burning source of heat. Current certified stoves put out at least 85 times more fine particulates than an oil or gas furnace (and much more if the wood is wet or the fire damped down).