Connect the Wood Smoke Dots

We decided to hang out at the Coronado Campground in Bernalillo, New Mexico for a while to do basic housekeeping things, such as laundry. Bernalillo is just outside Albuquerque and would give us access to what we needed. We also ordered our solar panels and had them shipped here.

The campsites are closer together than we prefer, but for a campground near a major metropolitan area, it still has its share of nature surrounding it. The Rio Grande flows alongside the campground - you can’t ask for much more than that. And the first night’s sunset was spectacular.

The campground was relatively full when we pulled in. Fearing a night of campfires, we asked the host about their campfire policy after we registered. She hesitated, looked leery, and asked us what we wanted her to say. We told her we try to avoid them as much as possible. She said that if the wind was 10 mph or faster, fires were banned. Otherwise they had to be confined to the provided fire rings.

Pat held up a finger to feel for the wind. “So how fast do you think the wind is blowing tonight?”

“Oh, about eight miles per hour,” she said.

After we settled in, I read through the campground rules sheet. There was nothing on it about the wind rule. That night we smelled wood smoke. Pat went out to investigate and found only one campfire burning quite a ways from us but upwind. We slept with the windows closed.

The next morning I stopped by and asked the city employee who staffs the campground about the wind rule for campfires. He confirmed it, said it was a county requirement and as long as they abided by it, the county allowed them to have campfires in the campground. I mentioned it wasn’t on the rules sheet.

“Well it isn’t our rule, it’s the county’s,” he said in an exasperated tone. I wanted to ask who enforced it but could tell I had pushed my luck with my probing to that point.

During the day I began to smell smoke and soon realized the same couple who had started last night’s fire had started up another. It basically smoldered all day. And then they started a fire all over again that night after dark.

The next day we found out the firestarter couple had to move from their site. They had planned to leave but their trailer had mechanical issues and they had to stay longer. Their site was reserved. Guess where they ended up? If you guessed next door to us, bingo.

Pat found out that both members of this husband\wife couple have breathing problems. The wife carried an inhaler. I told him I hoped the opportunity arose to point out that breathing wood smoke wasn’t in their best interests.

The wind picked up that day. Could we finally be saved by the county’s wind rule? In the early evening I saw the camp host stop at the site next door and talk with the couple. No fire that night. We slept with our windows open. Heaven.

But the couple had amassed a huge pile of long, thin sticks from somewhere that it seemed inevitable they would be burning once the wind died down.

The next day Pat ran into the husband, who talked about their planned route back to the Midwest.

“There are wildfires in Colorado. With my breathing issues I shouldn’t be breathing that smoke. We’re going to avoid it.”

Really?

Pat pointed out how harmful wood smoke is to breathe, taking the opportunity we had hoped for. Maybe it would sink in.

We left the campground for the day shortly after that conversation. We were delayed getting back until after dark. We arrived at our trailer to find the wife of the couple starting a campfire. I raced inside to close the windows we had left open. If we had arrived any later our trailer probably would have been filled with wood smoke.

We both were bewildered. Was it really possible they couldn’t connect the smoke from a wildfire with the smoke from their campfire and realize it was the same?

How is it in general that people seem so uneducated about the dangers of breathing wood smoke? Most people understand the dangers of cigarette smoke, but wood smoke seems to remain a benign substance. We have seen children standing by fires, sometimes engulfed in smoke, parents nearby saying nothing. Is it the tradition of camping and campfires that trip people up, conjuring fond memories that make the smoke seem benign?

The firestarter couple left for a day trip our last day at the campground. By sunset, they hadn’t returned. Not to fear, though, another camping group took up the torch and started the one campfire in the campground - a family with two preteen children. I saw the father roaming about after starting the fire taking photos. He took one of the campfire.

At least we were upwind.