The Stewart Street Crematory of Hill and Wood Funeral Home

A Charlottesville, Virginia resident has complained to local and state authorities about the residue that comes out of the stack at the Hill and Wood Funeral Service Crematory on Stewart Street.

According to a report from NBC 29, resident Renee Leake filed a complaint with the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality concerning smoke and fumes coming from the crematory.  The article states that she has filed at least two complaints.

Funeral Director Stephen Christianson of Hill & Wood is quoted as saying that, at times, while not common, smoke does occur.  The article also states that the crematory was inspected by officials last June and passed the inspection.

Funeral Director Daily take:  I owned an operating crematory in our funeral home.  While you don’t always know why it happens, there was nothing more displeasing to me to see smoke rise out of the stack.  When people saw that it bothered me that they knew a cremation was taking place.  Luckily, it happened very seldom and the more we operated the crematory the better we got at not allowing it to happen.  The bad public relations alone is reason enough to make sure everyone of your operators passes the Crematory Operators certification that is now offered by various groups in the industry.