THE FUMES that poison Paris

They come from locomotives, mainly those that run on the ring road network. They escape from factory chimneys. Here are some that are due to a washhouse.

Near the Nation, rue de Montreuil, at the corner of rue Gonnet, there is a washhouse. In this washhouse, there is naturally a boiler and, to heat it, a fireplace. For a long time, various fuels were used to feed the fire, in which shavings played a part. As a result, sparks fell from the chimney into the neighboring streets and courtyards.

Protests arose; an investigation was opened by the police station. The shavings were wisely abandoned.

But the reform was not complete. If the chimney of the washhouse no longer throws out sparks, it continues to send out, mainly at times when the fireplace is loaded, a thick black smoke. When the weather is overcast, it falls on all the buildings in the surrounding area.

Now this is a particularly populated area, the one that is enclosed between the rue Gonnet, the rue de Montreuil and the faubourg Saint-Antoine. Many dwellings are built on floors there, many of which only get air from courtyards that are already too narrow. They are not large, these dwellings. With the window closed, it is stifling. But when you open it, this smoke rushes in, blackening everything. And what an atmosphere it creates! And yet there are children here.

Now there are ways to prevent chimneys from smoking too much. Why don't we strictly require their use?