Toxic Winter Air From Wood Smoke Threatens Health of Fairbanks, AK

"FAIRBANKS -- Longtime Fairbanks-area resident Suzanne Fenner doesn't have to check the borough's air quality monitoring website to see whether or not pollution is high. She just looks out the front door. When she sees smoke rolling through, she knows she'll be coughing soon enough."

"Fenner, who's lived in Fairbanks since 1986, was shocked to learn recently she'd developed asthma. After being sick off and on for months, her doctor told her the asthma was a direct result of air pollution. ...

Fenner and others are fed up with the toxic air quality that persists through much of the winter in the Fairbanks North Star Borough."

Suzanna Caldwell reports for the Alaska Dispatch December 20, 2012.