Burning wood is a cheap, cozy form of heating during the frigid winter months here in Fairbanks. Nothing says "Alaska" like grabbing a few logs from the woodpile outside in your flannel long-johns, and tossing them on the old fire. While wood stoves are nice to sit around on a cold night, the accumulated smoke they exhaust out the chimney is literally making the air we breath up here unbearably toxic. When temperatures fall below zero, a strong inversion layer grips the low lying valley of Fairbanks, creating a thick ceiling that traps tiny particles of exhaust and smoke (referred to as PM-2.5) suspended in the air. Like a silent plague, a dense cloud settles into the city of Fairbanks. It's not just unpleasant, it's a hazard. PM-2.5 stands for Particulate Matter that is 2.5 microns or less in width, small enough to pass through the lungs and into the bloodstream. Inhale enough of this stuff and symptoms can range from a cough and respiratory irritation to asthma and heart disease. The situation can be so bad in winter that in some years air quality in this modest town of 32,000 is worse than Beijing; a city with over 12 million people. Kind of puts a damper on the old ambiance of the fire, no pun intended. Fortunately Casey and I live up in the hills, high above the inversion layer and the ice fog of death.
Canon EOS 60D, Canon EF 70-200mm f/4L USM + 1.4x, ISO-200 f/25 @ 1/500 sec.
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