A mother’s perspective on the cost of being poisoned from the smoke from burning wood and coal.
From: Krystal Francesco (Laurance Road, North Pole) [requested name be published]
Date: Sun, Jan 27, 2013 at 3:03 PM
Subject: Smoke
To: (66 DEC and borough agency staff, elected and appointed leaders)
Please see the attached photos. I would love to have a meaningful response from any of you. This is a public health risk. I hear more and more about people who are getting asthma, people who are taking their young children to the doctor because of breathing problems, older people who are suddenly having breathing and heart problems that they never had before, people who have a nagging cough, etc.–the list goes on and the number of people affected.
I have a personal interest in this because of my daughter, who at the young age of 2 years, 5 months, has been on the following medications due to chronic breathing problems over her short lifetime: Albuterol inhaler, Flovent inhaler, Zyrtec, Flonase…that doesn’t include over the counter cough medicine. I’ve had to start giving her all these since early 2012 morning and night to try and prevent ER visits. This is when I noticed how horrible our air quality was. I didn’t even need diagrams or pictures, I could SMELL the nasty fumes in the air, and how much my daughter was coughing. We’ve gone to the ER over labored breathing (ie couldn’t catch her breath) at least 6-7 times last year ALONE, not to mention how many other times in 2011.
I, myself, have just gone today to the doctor’s to receive steroid and inhaler treatments due to a cough I’ve had since early Dec 2012. My own mother has had terrible coughing fits this entire winter, starting in November of 2012, where she cannot catch her breath. She is also on inhalers and steroid treatments.
One of the reasons for this is the fact one of our neighbors is clearly burning something than other dry, seasoned wood. We can smell the toxic fumes, and see the black smoke with our own eyes. Their smokestack is clearly too short as well, which doesn’t help it rise above house level and drifts into surrounding houses, where we breath it in day and night. They live a merely 2 blocks away, right off the Richardson Highway on Laurance Road. Who knows how many other people are burning trash, carcasses, tires, etc.
Krystal Francesco (also living with me are my parents) North Pole, AK
Also attached to the email: graph from 48 Days of Smoke in Rectangle of Death AK 99705 [Graph]
I hope you get some good response and hope to see this posted here if possible.