Tips to keep Orange's winter air clear

22 May 2017

As the autumn leaves fall to the ground, wood fires across the city spark up.

The smokes from these fires can cause serious problems for asthmatics.

At this time of year, Orange City Council’s health staff are on the road most mornings looking for signs of high-levels of woodsmoke in residential areas.

When a problem is noticed or when there is a complaint, staff knock on doors and leave information on how to operate fires correctly.

There are mixed signals at present. For this time of year, there’s been fewer complaints than usual and that could mean the community is learning to operate their wood fires better.

But, in the lower valleys of Orange, the large amount of smoke that can still be seen is a concern.

There are potential health issues when a wood fire is not operated correctly. But, when the right wood is burnt in the right way the risks can be much, much lower and your heating bill can be much lower.

The following link contains several useful tips on how to save money, and reduce the amount of smoke coming from your fire.

www.orange.nsw.gov.au/woodfires

Dark or sooty smoke that’s coming out of a fire or a chimney is the most obvious sign that a fire is burning the wrong way. The dark smoke is tiny particles that aren’t being burnt in the fire box.

The aim of a good fire is to create heat that warms your house, and if dark smoke is escaping that’s like the money you’ve spent on fire wood going up in smoke.