This spring one of our Ban the Cannons members who lives in Surrey BC. has
experienced a new noise problem generated once again by the BC blueberry
industry.
If it isn't propane cannons or Bird Guard alarms firing all summer long,
neighbours will now have to put up with frost fans running all night long. The
devices being used are similar to the ones shown in the picture to the right.
The fans are supposedly used to protect crops from frost. There are proven
alternatives such as misters used by many other forms of agriculture, but frost
fans have started appearing in the Fraser Valley in the spring of 2009. There
is a good likelihood that the fans will be used in the fall as well, if there
is a risk of frost before the last berry has been harvested. With frost fans
going in the spring and fall, and cannons blasting away all summer long, the
blueberry noise season will now extend from April through to November, thanks
to the BC blueberry industry.
In the words of our friend in Surrey, "Between midnight and 6 they run, and
sound exactly like a helicopter. In fact, I even called the police to ask if
they were running some kind of operation with their chopper, only to find out
that my neighbourhood blueberry grower was causing the noise".
This Surrey resident and his neighbours have had enough, and have filed a
formal complaint to the Farm Industry Review Board. They would like the FIRB
to consider the use of frost fans to be unreasonable noise in his
neighbourhood.
The neighbours have organized very quickly and are also going to make a
presentation against the fans at the monthly meeting between Ministry of Lands
and Surrey Planning after having discovered that the fans were erected without
planning permits from Surrey, which they say are required. No other industry
gets to behave this way and if this problem isn't stopped immediately, there
will soon be a forest of frost fans across the valley affecting thousands of
people all night long. Also, in this neighbourhood the fans have been running
even with overnight temperatures predicted at +7 or +8 degrees Celsius.
Absolutely moronic!
Our friend in Surrey has the full support of all Ban the Cannons members. If
only someone had filed a formal complaint when the first propane cannon
started firing many years ago. The use of cannons might have been stopped at
that time. But now we are stuck with this "abnormal farm practice"
Let's all hope that the FIRB shows some common sense and disallows the use of
overnight noise devices like frost fans in a heavily populated area like the
Fraser Valley of BC.
