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Smoke
BW491058

monitor which Mr Powell jokingly called a mobile

BY ANELIA BLACKIE
Email: anelia@tbw.com.au
THE Big Brother of air pollution will
soon be monitoring Mount Gambier
skies to gather information on pollutants
released from wood smoke in the area.
The Environment Protection Authority
(EPA) has announced an air quality
monitoring station will be located in
Mount Gambier shortly before winter -
when chimneys start to push huge clouds
of wood smoke into the air - and stay
here on a permanent basis.
EPA principal scientific officer Chris
Powell said the station, with scales so
sensitive it can weigh air particles as
small as one ten millionth of a gram,
will filter air, count and size particles
to give a reading of the air quality in
the city.
“It is important to determine the
levels of air pollution, when it occurs
and what it consists of and to measure
the way pollution moves around in the
air and its affect on the environment,”
Mr Powell said.
“With this information we can look
at ways we can manage the sources of
air pollution, inform the community
about air quality in Mount Gambier
and develop strategies to improve or
maintain good air quality.”
The air quality monitoring station,
“dog wash” because of its similarity in
appearance, is mounted on a trailer and
will be based where there is good access
to the sky.
“We are currently looking at three
potential locations where it will be based
permanently,” he said.
The monitoring station will take
readings every 10 minutes and every
hour transmit information to Adelaide,
where it will be processed along with
information gathered from stations in
other South Australian locations, includ-
ing Port Pirie, Whyalla and Adelaide.
Mr Powell said air quality measured
in Mount Gambier from 2001 to 2002
gave inconclusive results when older
measuring equipment was used.
The announcement of the monitoring
station was made with the launch of
SmokeWatch, a community education
program to reduce wood smoke by
encouraging householders to use their
wood heaters more efficiently.
EPA South East manager Naomi Grey
said SmokeWatch was about efficient
heating and not about whether it is
better than other forms of heating.
“When not used correctly, it can cause
excessive smoke and I hope SmokeWatch
will initiate community discussion on
the issue,” she said.
City Councillor Jim Maher, who offi-
cially launched SmokeWatch, described
it as “local action on a global issue”.
pThe driver side of Mr Monger’s car was extensively damaged. Quick reflexes saved him from being
badly injured.
Crash survival ‘pure fluke’
BY ELLIE TURNER
Email: ellie@tbw.com.au
A MOUNT Gambier man who
narrowly survived Monday morn-
ing’s fatal accident on the Princes
Highway has described his survival
as a “pure fluke”.
Frank Monger was heading west
to take student photos at a school
north of Warrnambool when he
smashed into an unloaded trailer
that had disconnected from a
truck about 5km east of Mount
Gambier.
At 6.15am the sun had not risen
and neither Mr Monger or the man
who died could see the trailer,
having their lights on low beam
as they approached each other.
Mr Monger said what looked like
an iron bar loomed out of the dark-
ness and he hit the brakes with less
than two seconds warning.
He ducked into the middle of the
car just before the trailer smashed
into the driver’s side windscreen
and door, and continued several
metres down the road.
Another driver hit the trailer
seconds later and was killed on
impact.
Mr Monger said he must have
gone into shock “because I lost all
concept of time”.
“I remember a police officer
asking if I was okay, but I couldn’t
tell you what happened in the space
between when the accident hap-
pened and when they got there,”
he said.
Mr Monger said the freak
accident could have happened to
anyone.
He said he habitually scanned for
kangaroos at that time of the morn-
ing, but not for big iron bars.
He sustained soreness, bruising pMount Gambier resident Frank
and several cuts to the shoulder. Monger was lucky to survive a
“I am counting my blessings, but crash that took the life of
my deepest sympathies are with the another man on Monday
victim’s family,” Mr Monger said. morning. Picture: ELLIE TURNER.

WEATHER Mount Gambier Today - Morning shower. 21o – full report page 21 TV GUIDE Page 10 COMICS Page 14 CLASSIFIEDS Pages 15-17

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