Fire the smoke!

Woodstoves: make a change, get some cash 

Smelly, smoky, cough-producing woodstoves. Every winter the air quality of East Kootenay towns takes a nose dive as hundreds of people fire up their old, inefficient stoves to heat their homes. But it doesn’t have to be this way!  

Wildsight, in cooperation with the Regional District of East Kootenay, is running a super-hot woodstove exchange program for the third year in a row.   

Homeowners in the Regional District of East Kootenay who replace their wood guzzling, smoke belching stoves with EPA-certified stoves are eligible for grants of at least $250. So far, 120 homeowners have traded in their old clunkers for new EPA-certified high-efficiency stoves and gotten rebates. In 2010, the last year of provincial funding for this program, there are 80 stove rebates available to East Kootenay residents. 

“The woodstove exchange is a great success in a number of ways,” said Erna Jensen-Shill, who coordinates the program. “By switching to a high-efficiency stove, people have improved the air quality of their neighbourhoods, made their chimneys safer and found that they are using one third less wood. What can you call that but a win-win-win situation?"  

Jensen-Shill was recently interviewed for Fire the Smoke!, a program on wood burning and health that airs on Shaw TV this spring. She had words of wisdom about woodstoves. 

“Check your chimney – if you see smoke other than at start up, it’s time to consider upgrading your stove, because it’s not burning the wood efficiently,” she said. “Spring is also a good time to start collecting, splitting and stacking wood so that it’s properly seasoned for the next burning season.” 

For more details, go to: www.Wildsight.ca/KimCran/Woodstove. 

Or contact your local municipality, the RDEK, or Erna Jensen-Shill at 250.427.9360 or WoodStoveExchange@Wildsight.ca.