Published: November 06, 2008 11:26 pm      

Portage hopes to clear the air with new outdoor furnace rules

PORTAGE — After three years of complaining about odors coming from a neighbor’s outdoor furnace, Ron Popchak should finally get some relief.

The Portage Township supervisors this week introduced an ordinance setting rules on installation of outdoor furnaces and, more importantly for Popchak, for the first time residents will see restrictions on what they can burn in the free-standing furnaces.

Popchak’s concern expressed at meetings for the past three years from fall through spring has been about the smells coming from what he said is burning trash and unsuitable wood.

He also finds the furnace’s smoke objectionable, which at times lies low in the hollow of the Miller Shaft neighborhood where he lives.

The smoke prevents him from going outside with his grandson, and wash day for his wife means laundry seldom gets hung on the outdoor clothes line.

“This is gonna help,” Popchak said of the ordinance to be advertised later this month for December adoption.

Implementation of the ordinance, mirroring many already in effect in a host of municipalities in Cambria and Somerset counties, could become law as early as January.

The siting and smokestack standards spelled out in the ordinance will have no impact on the outdoor furnaces already installed throughout the township, including the one next to Popchak.

But the supervisors are determined they will enforce compliance on the fuel regulations regardless of how long the furnaces have been operational.

“The existing furnaces must meet the requirements for what is being burned,” Supervisor Ken Trimbath said. “This covers everybody.”

The ordinance spells out suitable fuel sources such as natural wood without additives, wood pellets, coal, oil and gas.

Skyrocketing fuel costs earlier this year prompted a sharp increase in interest by residents looking at outdoor furnaces to save money, Trimbath said.

Some of the unacceptable fuel sources include household garbage, processed or painted wood and plastic.

“If (the furnaces are) not put up right, this room is going to be packed with angry residents,” Trimbath said.

“We can’t continue to have people (using furnaces) without some guidelines.”