Smoked out and harassed in South Australia

We bought a home in the Hills of South Australia. Several nights into winter the acrid smell of smoke all over our property led us to notice that the houses next door had several wood heater flues, then there was one across the road and another, two houses down.

We complained to the occupants next door about outdoor fires and smoke pouring over our fence from shed heaters. Our yard often smelt like smoke and the smoke infiltrated our home causing breathing issues and stinking our home.

The occupant of one of the houses with three or four separate wood heaters, a fire pit and a wood smoker didn’t like being notified of a complaint so proceeded to yell expletives and then with a number of other people, physically assaulted me in the street. The smoke got worse and then he started harassing us. The council did nothing, the police did nothing so we ended up moving.

The area we are in still has wood heaters that we can smell occasionally but it is nothing compared to living next door to antisocial, nuisance neighbours and a street full of wood heaters.

It is worth noting to anyone that the council did not help whatsoever and probably made the issue worse. The only way to solve this issue is to start phasing out wood heaters altogether where they are likely to do the most damage—in towns and cities when there is electricity and gas available.