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'Controlled' fires are unhealthy and polluting

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  • Originally published March 2, 2011 at 5:33 p.m., updated March 2, 2011 at 8:05 p.m.

Editor, the Advocate:

I agree with Vic in Speak Out, today.

Is Victoria promoting the ingestion and inhalation of smoke various times during the week and most often on a beautiful weekend day? Perhaps we should don our boots and sit around on the weekends and watch and worry about the fires, and wonder whether they are "controlled" or not! Would tourists show interest?

Do these pyromaniacs consider the wildlife nesting areas they are destroying in their selfish quests, in the name of "good" ranching? What about the destruction of baby bluebonnet plants, such as those that have been profuse on my acreage since the latter part of January? Smoke is filled with many harmful contaminants, that not only affect our right to breathe fresh air, but affect wild and domestic animals as well.

But, of course, the ranchers know this, right? Can we accept the fact that they just do not CARE? Where do they move their own livestock when the burning is taking place? No one else gets advance notice! We have to move our outdoor "picnics" inside, or cancel them. The allergic reactions and the smoky odors retained on drapes and furniture and inside vehicles is disgusting!

How is this unlike the cigarette smoking ban? This type of smoke pollution far outweighs the smaller amounts of smoke created through cigarette smoking.

It seems these are issues that the Fire Marshal could indeed act upon. I have never witnessed this much burning and unnecessary pollution in the last 20 years.

It is appalling that people will be silent on such matters, as noted by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

May Friedrichs, Victoria



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Comments

  • Skoodge Skoodge Report a ViolationReport a Violation Permalink  | 

    Oh, you think this smoke is awful? Ha! Come to California before fire season when the control FOREST fires are going on, then whine about the oh-so-awful smoke. You can't see 10 feet in front of you, you walk around in a breathing mask, and all those fun things. It lasts weeks and most families leave the area for those times. And yet, we knew there was a purpose and didn't complain.

    This smoke in Victoria was a nice break.

    Don't be so dramatic. Fire happens. This is how human kind works; we make way for what we need to sustain life. If you don't like it, go live somewhere where you don't have to witness what takes place for you and your family to live your life.

    If you eat meat, use veggies that you didn't grow, drive a car, use electricity, or basically live anywhere than under a rock, you help cause this "pollution."

    March 8, 2011 at 2:16 p.m.
  • Texican Texican Report a ViolationReport a Violation Permalink  | 

    That's exactly what we need, TxBohemian...more coordination. Perhaps we could commission and fund yet another government agency for it. That would solve all of our problems.

    Of course, I'm being facetious. I'll take the air quality in Victoria on a day when pastures are being burned over pretty much any summer day I've encountered in Dallas or Houston. They know a thing or two about poor air quality.

    March 8, 2011 at 11:50 a.m.
  • TxBohemian TxBohemian Report a ViolationReport a Violation Permalink  | 

    I don't know if this is healthy or not, or beneficial or not but I do wish they would at least do this when the wind is NOT blowing INTO the city!!

    It seems that when they're burning on the north side of town there's a north wind blowing and when the south is burning there's a south wind blowing.

    Could there be a better coordination here??

    Or, as stated, is this some kinda tourist draw?

    March 7, 2011 at 3:10 p.m.
  • Texican Texican Report a ViolationReport a Violation Permalink  | 

    If I'm not completely mistaken, Ms. Fredericks, grassfires are also a natural occurence and can occur without human cause in undisturbed habitat. Perhaps we should sue God for pollution.

    While intially destructive, they are also a naturally healthy, rejuvantive event for an ecosystem. Ranchers and forestry managers have learned this from nature and use nature's natural habits for their benefit.

    In addition, burning out last year's undergrowth prevents this year's wildfires from being UN-controlled. These controlled burns happen every early spring in our part of the world, and I'm curious why you've never noticed them before. Other people are silent because they understand what they're seeing.

    March 4, 2011 at 1:58 p.m.
  • Observer Observer Report a ViolationReport a Violation Permalink  | 

    You are living in the wrong part of the country, May Fredericks. May I suggest an idyllic location such as New York State or Massachusetts, to name just two? There, you would be surrounded by fellow tree-huggers in blissful ignorance as your local and state economies circled the bowl while businesses fled to more favorable locales, such as Texas. This would be a win-win-win situation: You would no longer have to suffer, the hard-working ranchers trying to make a living off of their land would be rid of you and I would no longer have to hear your whining.

    March 3, 2011 at 1:18 p.m.