Neguac couple gets reprieve from smoke

Published Friday April 24th, 2009

By Ryan Ross
ross.ryan@miramichileader.com

NEGUAC - A Neguac couple can breathe a sigh of relief after a court order forced their neighbour to remove an outdoor furnace.

For almost five years smoke from the furnace blew into Camille and Monique Breau's yard, leaving them unable to enjoy their property.

"We are some glad it's all over," Breau said as he walked in the fresh air outside his home Wednesday.

The Breau's problems started when their neighbour Alderice Godin put an outdoor furnace on the edge of his property near their garage.

The initial court documents stated the furnace was on a lumber business property and they used it to burn materials from the business.

Pictures of the furnace show thick smoke rising up from the chimney, only to settle back down near the ground as the wind blew it over to the Breau's property.

One picture showed smoke so thick it blocked out the building across the road, as though a thick fog had rolled in to hide it.

But for the Breau's, the constant smell was the biggest problem as it left them unable to spend time in their yard or even hang laundry.

"You can't compare it to anything," Camille said.

Along with the pictures, Camille documented everything on video over a span of several years. In one video the blue sky was visible to either side of a plume of smoke while the rest of his yard was covered in a grey haze.

A different video shows the smoke rising high above the yard before falling back to earth behind a five feet tall hedge, while another shows a panoramic view of the yard covered in the same grey smoke.

As avid gardeners, the Breaus used to spend a lot of time in their yard, but Camille said there were days Monique would leave their greenhouse because of the smoke.

"It was hell. Pure hell."

On another occasion the couple had guests who wanted to pitch a tent in the backyard, but they couldn't stand the smell of the smoke.

"We told them to come in the house."

Thin yellow strips now line the house where the years of smoke stained the white siding.

Although he didn't think they suffered any lingering health effects from the smoke, Camille said the smell would sometimes make them sick.

"You'd get a bit of nausea sometimes from smelling that."

The Breaus have a short walking trail on their property and Camille said they could still smell the smoke at the far end of the trail when the furnace was in use.

As he tried to find a resolution to their problem, Camille sent his first letter to the Environment Minister in 2005, but the reply said there were no regulations in place for the type of furnace his neighbour was using.

With a stack of documents on his kitchen table, Camille pointed out letter after letter sent to municipal, provincial and federal officials, with replies to most of them.

He never received a reply from Miramichi Bay-Neguac MLA Carmel Robichaud, even though he sent her letters and the Environment Department correspondence stated they sent her copies of their replies.

Camille even wrote to provincial ombudsman Bernard Richard who looked into the issue, but couldn't do anything to help.

One letter he received from Environment Canada confirmed the type of furnace his neighbour was using emits more fine particles than typical wood stoves, oil furnaces and natural gas furnaces.

Another from the provincial Environment Department said they were forming a standing committee to look at the issue.

Camille kept every letter, did his own research on the issue and wrote everything down in journals as he tried to get the problem resolved, all of which he used in his court case.

"That's what saved me," he said.

It wasn't the first time he had seen one of the furnaces either. On the other side of his property one of the neighbours has a furnace he has seen blow smoke in the other direction so he had an idea of what to expect when Godin set his up.

"You can't even describe the feeling that anyone would light it," he said. After taking the issue to court, a judge sided with the Breaus and issued an order for Godin to remove the furnace, known as a Wood Doctor, by March 31.

"We were in a celebrating mood, let me tell you," Camille said.

Camille said he would talk to people about his problems with the furnace and they would wonder if it was really as bad as he said.

"They don't know unless they are here when the smoke was here."

But even though his problem has been resolved, Camille plans to continue to fight against the use of the outdoor furnaces.

"For sure I wouldn't wish on anyone what I went through. You wouldn't wish that on your worst enemy."

Despite his problems, Camille said he wasn't out to get his neighbour. He just wants someone in the government to do something about the furnaces.

"I shouldn't have to fight. They should be the ones."

He said he is frustrated the people he contacted in the various levels of government couldn't do anything to help.

"They have no power. They even tell me that on paper."

Along with all his other documents, Camille had newspaper clippings showing a few communities in the province have either banned use of the furnaces or were considering a ban.

"I'm sure at some point they're going to have to do something about them," he said.

Godin was contacted, but said he did not want to comment at this time.

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