Wood smoke
Information
In the colder months, solid fuel heaters such as wood heaters are popular in our district to heat the home.
When burnt efficiently, wood is an effective renewable fuel. Wood smoke can strongly influence air quality and can have considerable health impacts. It is therefore important to know the best ways to use solid fuel heaters.
When wood is burned correctly it is quite safe, but when incorrect fuel or incorrect use of heaters causes excessive smoke, the air becomes contaminated with chemical components that are harmful to human health.
The EPA website has good information about using your solid fuel heater, including tips on reducing wood smoke pollution.
You can also download the EPA's helpful booklet Burn Better for good for five simple steps to keep your home fire burning better.
- Burn only dry, seasoned wood
- Good wood storage – under a roof to keep it dry and in a ventilated area
- A good start – never use gasoline, kerosene, charcoal starter, or a propane torch
- Go with the glow – never over-fill the heater with wood or leave it on a low setting overnight or when you go out
- Do the check – go outside and look at your flue
Want to know if your chimney is happy? Check out the happy chimney flyer here.
Mount Barker Wood Smoke Program
Mount Barker District Council have partnered with UTAS, CSIRO, NHMRC Centre for Safe Air and Curtin University to work with the community and assess findings of a workshop held in April 2024.
The workshop ‘Let’s talk about smoke: co-designing effective behaviour change solutions to the winter wood smoke challenge’ was well received and an evaluation workshop to be held in September 2024 will follow.
Award money from the ‘Minister for Health and Wellbeing Excellence in Public Health Awards 2023’ was used to purchase air quality monitoring sensors. These have been deployed in ‘hot spot’ locations around the district.
Real-time air quality data can be viewed by clicking the button below: