A smoldering Fire Produces the Most Wood Smoke Pollution

Children breathe more air in proportion to their size than adults. Their lungs are also still developing. Because of this, children can experience more health effects from polluted air than adults. Children who regularly breathe wood smoke are more likely to have shortness of breath, coughing, wheezing, asthma, disrupted sleep, inflamed respiratory tracts, and pneumonia.
University of Washington researchers have found more symptoms of respiratory disease in Seattle preschool children living in residential areas with high levels of wood smoke than in children living in areas with lower wood smoke levels. Other studies have found that use of wood burning fireplaces increases the risk of lower respiratory tract infections such as bronchiolitis and pneumonia in young children. Childhood lower respiratory tract infections have been linked with chronic lung disease in later life.

Why should you retro-fit your wood burning fireplace? The reasons are all around you . . . in your community, in your neighborhood and, especially, in your home! A smoldering wood burning fireplace is the most unhealthy. However, the HearthCAT will activate at a very low temperature, even as low as a smoldering fire.