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sunny_dee_gw

Smoke from Building Fire

Sunny_Dee
11 years ago

Unfortunately, Thursday night, an industrial building behind our house caught fire and burned to the ground. During the fire, a lot of smoke billowed into our yard and engulfed my organic 1000 sq ft garden.

I spoke with someone from the fire dept who said that the building did have water soluble chemicals and heavy metal chemicals in it that were burned up. He said that a specialist told him that the chemicals should *not* have traveled in the smoke and contaminated my crops.

However, I'm scared that my organic garden is ruined. I looked through out the garden for signs of residue or if the plants were acting adversely. Everything "looks" really good. I also sprayed ALL of the plants with tons of water to rinse them.

Do you think my garden is a total loss? Has anyone dealt with something like this before? Should I give samples to the extension service to test? HELP!!! Thanks!

Comments (9)

  • zzackey
    11 years ago

    I think the spraying with water would definitely help the plants. I would advise you to take soil samples to the ag center. If you've never done it before, ask them first how to do it. There is a certain way to do it.

  • dicot
    11 years ago

    I'd mix a pretty thick solution of Dawn dishwashing soap, maybe 1 part Dawn to 50 parts water, and spray the whole affected area, top & bottom of every leaf and everywhere else on the plant, to trap the fire & firefighting residues with the surfactants, then rinse them into the soil. Rinse well.

    Don't worry about toxic uptake by the plants from the soil to the crop, but I might go ahead and toss any greens or annual herbs that were directly affected. Sanitary methods after handling soil are wise anyway, but maybe be even more aware of them now for the next few months. Ride out the summer, bury the affected areas deeply with compost in Fall, then overwinter and I think you will be able to forget about it all by next Spring.

  • Kimmsr
    11 years ago

    Smoke, particulate matter from fires, will always have residue in it. Hosing off your plants would have moved any that migh be on the plants onto, and into, your soil. However, if your soil has adequate levels of organic matter and an active Soil Food Web which can work on removing any of these potential contaminents there should be little concern.
    Dawn is a detergent that has been shown to be harmful to plants, so is not something I would use in the garden.

  • Sunny_Dee
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    I guess I am more concerned with the fruits (like zucchini and beans) and leafy veggies (kale, lettuce, greens, herbs) that were already on the plants and exposed to the smoke. I'm scared that if we eat them, we will be harmed in some way.

    My soil is very high in organic matter and rich with soil borne life so hopefully my little friends will be able to help me out.

    I would really like to be able to eat/keep those plants but if they aren't safe, then I'll get rid of them. Thanks for your responses!

  • RpR_
    11 years ago

    You have fallen prey to the paranoid--"It is gonna kill you-- hype that seems to pop up often on some of thise threads.

    Wash it and eat it.

    People who worry themselves sick are their own enemy, not any outside source.
    The majority of warnings that come with x,y or z anywhere is A: people covering their buttocks from being sued; B: God wannabes playing God.

  • Sunny_Dee
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    I am getting several answers from people who do seem to be just covering their butts. However, I seriously do not want to poison my family. I just don't know what to do. I just received this email response from my local extension agent:

    "All kinds of chemicals can become airborne and travel in the smoke from a fire. If your garden was engulfed by the smoke from this burning building, I would play it safe and remove all plants from the garden. We know that certain molecules can be brought into the plants from smoke (CO, NO2, NO3, etc.). There are studies that show the detriment of this damage (but those studies are limited to the effect this has on the plant, not necessarily on the human consuming them). I have personally seen smoke damage (CO damage) on tomatoes in high tunnels heated by wood-fired stoves when the chimney stack failed. With this, it is not a far leap to assume that other materials could make their way into the plant (though you would almost certainly see this affect the plants� health). Having said all of that, if you do not want to remove all plants, at least remove any existing "food." That is, any leafy vegetables and any fruit from fruiting vegetables (tomato, pepper, eggplant, etc), this includes root crops, as these foods were subjected to the questionable smoke. Anything that develops from here on out will not have been directly subjected to the smoke, but the plants will have, so this is still risky, just not as much.
    Sorry to hear that this happened to your garden. Better to be safe than sorry."

    What do you guys think? Should I consider my huge garden a total loss or should I just remove the current fruits?? Thanks for your opinions.

  • Kimmsr
    11 years ago

    When I started my training as a firefighter I learned that the common household materials in use in the 1970's would release during a fire minor and innocuous things such as Cyanide, Hydrogen Sulfide, Sulfur Dioxide, among others as well as Carbon Monoxide and Carbon Dioxide. When modern building materrials were added, plastic piping for example, even more toxic stuff was available in the smoke produce by that fire.
    All of that is relatively easy to wash off the fruits growing in a garden, often with a good stream of water as they grow in the garden or any soap in the kitchen. All soaps aand detergents are surfactants, a substance that lowers the surface tension between two materials. however, detergents have been shown to do greater harm to growing plants that did help those plants.
    I suspect your local extension agent is not being quite as truthful to you, as an organic gardener, as he could be. I too find some of them to disdain organic gardening as something akin to withcraft although there are others that practice organic gardening themselves.
    Keep you garden growing and producing and wash everything that grows there this year and as long as your soil has adequate levels of organic matter to support an active Soil Food Web you should have no health problems to be concerned about. Although the concentration of the residue from that fire will be higher than normal those are not anythjing that you are not exposed to every day as you go about your way, although in much smaller amounts.

  • albert_135   39.17°N 119.76°W 4695ft.
    11 years ago

    I guess I am more concerned with the fruits (like zucchini and beans) and leafy veggies (kale, lettuce, greens, herbs) that were already on the plants and exposed to the smoke. I'm scared that if we eat them, we will be harmed in some way.

    If your are ''concerned'' or ''scared" then don't eat them. Simple as that. Facts are irrelevant if one is concerned or scared.