Campfire smoke bothers some homeowners

GRAND HAVEN TOWNSHIP, Mich. (WOOD) - An issue on the minds of many in Grand Haven Township: campfire smoke crossing property lines and interfering with homeowners trying to enjoy their property.

"Camping and camp fires is like fishing and a fishing pole," said Mike Perton, the executive director of the Christian Reformed Conference Grounds, in Grand Haven.

On the 60-year-old campground, he told 24 Hour News 8 on Wednesday, campfires are important -- but it's also important to be a good neighbor, Perton said.

So, the campground has rules it passes out to every camper. Those include a red, yellow and green flag system, based on environmental information the grounds receives daily from the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality.

The campground also offers clean burning wood and fire-starter sticks on site, along with constantly watching the air quality with thousands of dollars of monitoring equipment.

"We tell our campers, one bad fire could impact the whole campground," Perton said.

But even with all the precautions the campground takes, as long as there's fire -- there's smoke.

"If we actually see smoke in the air, we see that as a nuisance, and at that point, we enforce the ordinance by having them put the fire out," Grand Haven Township Fire and Rescue Chief Tom Gerencer said.

The Grand Haven Township Board is considering modifying an ordinance that said smoke can't cross property lines, he said.

But Gerencer said he hopes changes they're working on -- such as telling campsites what types of wood they can burn for less smoky fires -- will make the smoke and the problem dissipate.

"We want the campers to be able to enjoy themselves when they come to our beautiful town here in West Michigan," Gerencer said. "We don't want to deter that at all, however, we want to find a good balance in making sure that we have clean breathing air for people to enjoy, also."

For those like Dan Aukeman, who lives right above the campgrounds, he frequently has smoke wafting into his home in the summertime, he told 24 Hour News 8.

Although he said he's not frustrated to the point of wanting all the fires extinguished, he said some of his neighbors would be more than happy to see the fires put out for good.

The township board isn't talking about making all campfires illegal, Gerencer said, but if the new fire guidelines don't work, the board may have to revisit the issue.