Quote:
Originally Posted by nexleffel
Those are the vents for the trash burn furnaces....
They have been since cut down...
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Makes sense; I remember the concrete pre-fab incinerator in our back yard in Pasadena. I also remember the smog so thick, you could not see the San Gabriel range, or Mt. Wilson. It is really amazing what has been accomplished over the years in this regard. Just go to a car show, with 1950's cars, and you can smell what we had to be subjected to every day--unburned hydro-carbons out the tail pipe. Technology has really helped in this regard; we can still have horse power and performance, but clean air too.
In addition, banning backyard incinerators brought the smog war to the home front and the campaign against smoky orchard "smudge pots" eliminated a highly visible source of pollution.
In 1947, more than 300,000 backyard trash incinerators puffed out white plumes -- and black soot -- across the city.
"People would complain -- especially women hanging up their washing outside -- that the ashes and soot from the incinerators would soil their freshly laundered clothing before it got dry," Brunelle said.
Many residents fiercely opposed plans to ban backyard incinerators, believing that oil refineries were the true cause of smog, and that refineries should be regulated first. More than a decade after the problem was first identified, trash collection programs were established and backyard incinerators were finally banned in 1958.
http://www.aqmd.gov/news1/Archives/H.../marchcov.html