[troutman]

Originally Posted by FlamesKickAss

I call BS.

I have asthma and I sit by the fire and have no problems.

People just want a reason to complain and the city wants a reason to collect more money.

I don't have asthma, so I can't say I know this from personal experience. Perhaps it depends on the individual:

http://freshdirt.sunset.com/2008/07/...red-up-th.html

I have asthma, along with 22.9 million other Americans. It is the leading chronic childhood illness in the U.S. Although asthma can be fatal, thankfully deaths are infrequent. But it is an expensive disease, costing the U.S. economy around $19.7 billion each year (American Lung Association).

Smoke is a powerful trigger; avoidance of it shapes my life. I’ve given up activities that brought me joy, including camping with my family, for what is camping without a campfire? I’ve accepted these limitations but I’m struggling with those imposed by smoke from recreational fires.

In the last four years, I’ve had to give up time in my garden and shut my windows to cool night breezes due to wood smoke in the neighborhood. I can’t see the fire burning in someone’s backyard whether it’s next door, down the street, or two blocks over. I have no warning that my next breath will include smoke’s deadly particles, and then it’s too late to prevent an attack. Four weeks ago, a neighbor’s smoky fire triggered an attack so severe I thought I’d need hospitalization. It took me four miserable days to recover.

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=...mental-dangers

It’s hard to assess the larger impact of backyard fire pits on local or regional air quality, but no one questions the fact that breathing in wood smoke can be irritating if not downright harmful. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), so-called fine particles (also called particulate matter) are the most dangerous components of wood smoke from a health perspective, as they “can get into your eyes and respiratory system, where they can cause health problems such as burning eyes, runny nose and illnesses such as bronchitis.”

Fine particles also aggravate chronic heart and lung diseases, and have been linked to premature deaths in those already suffering from such afflictions. As such, the EPA advises that anyone with congestive heart failure, angina, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, emphysema or asthma should steer clear of wood smoke in general. Children’s exposure to wood smoke should also be limited, as their respiratory systems are still developing and they breathe more air (and air pollution) per pound of body weight than adults.