- NEWS
- Young the Giant impresses at first major headlining show 1 hour & 47 minutes ago
- Holy matrimony! Brides talk romance 1 hour & 47 minutes ago
- Feds approve first new nuclear reactors since 1978 1 hour & 46 minutes ago
- Stolen car is abandoned, resident gives chase 5 minutes ago
- SPORTS
- O.C. basketball: CIF playoff pairings revealed 1 hour & 16 minutes ago
- OCVarsity Hot Shots: The week in pictures 1 hour & 52 minutes ago
- Lakers' options: tweak now or bleak future
- Griffin, Paul lead Clippers' rout of Bobcats
- BUSINESS
- ENTERTAINMENT
- Young the Giant impresses at first major headlining show 1 hour & 45 minutes ago
- Whitney Houston and others who died young
- How will Whitney Houston's death affect the Grammys? 1 hour & 45 minutes ago
- O.C.'s Most Interesting People
- LIFE
- Adele: 'I represent the majority of women'
- Visiting Washington's San Juan Islands
- Sneak peak: New Vegas mob museum a “hit” 1 hour & 15 minutes ago
- 'Detectives' for the dead: They solve mysteries left behind 1 hour & 44 minutes ago
- TRAVEL
- OPINION
Get $125 to convert your wood-burning fireplace to gas
October 31st, 2008, 4:31 pm · 14 Comments · posted by Pat Brennan, science, environment editor
It’s a crackdown in slow motion. The region’s smog agency says wood-burning fireplaces send too many fine particles to the atmosphere — tiny bits of soot that can work their way deep into the lungs to create a variety of health problems. 
So the agency, the South Coast Air Quality Management District in Diamond Bar, is trying a combination of new restrictions and rebates to bring the public onboard.
First, the rebates. Beginning now, people who live in the South Coast Air Basin (including all of Orange County) can receive $125 toward the purchase and installation of gas-log units. Visit the smog agency’s “Healthy Hearths Initiative” Web site to find a participating dealer near you, and to check your eligibility, all via ZIP code.
If you qualify, the dealer will subtract the $125 from your purchase and installation price. You’ll work out the installation details on your own.
Now, the restrictions.
As of last month, permanent indoor or outdoor wood-burning devices can be sold, or installed in existing homes, if they meet one of these conditions:
- They’re part of a dedicated gas-fueled fireplace.
- They are U.S. EPA phase II-certified fireplace inserts or stoves.
- They are pellet-fueled, wood-burning heaters.
- They are masonry heaters that are not open-hearth wood-burning fireplaces.
And that’s just for starters. In March 2009, permanent indoor or outdoor wood-burning devices will be banned from installation in new developments within the South Coast basin. Open-hearth fireplaces that don’t use wood, such as gas-log sets, will be allowed.
Why are they being so hard on hearths? The air district says wood smoke from fireplaces contributes to a load of fine particles in the air that causes nearly 6,200 premature deaths a year.
Reader Comments
Comments are encouraged, but you must follow our User Agreement.- Keep it civil and stay on topic.
- No profanity, vulgarity, racial slurs or personal attacks.
- People who harass others or joke about tragedies will be blocked.
14 Comments
-
ADVERTISEMENT
-
-
-
-
16th annual People’s Choice
From your favorite restaurants and shops to the best day spa in town, here are your choices for the number one places to eat, shop and play in O.C.
Browse the 2009 Best of Orange County winners-
ADVERTISEMENT
I wonder if this is a slower version of the “Smoke Police” plan that was unveiled last year and caused such a public uproar they had to scale it back and try to sneak it in later. Smile and wave to to your masters at the Big Green Smog Castle overlooking the golf course on the 57/60 IC !
Are they nuts!
More than ever with Natural Gas being such a volital (price) and fuel shortages predicted for the future
More than ever you need a wood burning fireplace or stove!
If there are too many people getting soot in their lungs how about a little population control and stop the baby machines!
This is another example of government run amok.
Let’s assume that fireplaces put out exactly the soot particles stated however AQMD doesn’t tell us how much of this stuff is in the air on any given day. I can’t imagine there’s a lot of it during the middle of Summer.
Additionally, I ‘d like to see some of those 6,200 death certificates that say the cause of death was fireplace soot and if this is a nationwide figure then AQMD is even more out of line since we do not burn anywhere near the wood that other parts of the country do. If they truly were concerned about inhalants they could crack down even more on the trucking industry which puts out far more on a daily basis.
I have hay fever (and used to have asthma) and I do choke up and get runny eyes when I’m around a wood stove for several days. Seems logical to me that if Orange County is getting denser, phasing out wood stoves in favor of gas stoves is a good idea.
we converted our fireplace to Diamond Fire Glass which is an amazing product which burns clean and safe for the environment. It’s ultra clean and a great alternative to messy burnt logs and standard ceramic fireplace log systems.
The glass crystals are available in a wide array of colors and are formulated to tolerate extreme heat without ever Burning, Melting or Discoloring.
Check it out: http://www.diamondfireglass.com We LOVE it!
Next thing, the AQMD will want to add a “special tax” on cut wood.
I can’t imagine that soot from fireplaces in our warm climate makes up more than a tiny fraction of all air pollution: the bureaucrats wasting their time researching, developing, implementing and enforcing these regulations all need to be fired. Yesterday.
First my car now my fire place. What are the Hollywood loving liberal democrat smog police going to do next put a catalitic converter in my under wear?
Those EPA certified wood burners are actually considered a “furnace”. I lived in a Colorado county that required such a wood burning device if you wanted to heat with wood, and the building dept. considered them furnaces. Yes, they will heat a 2000 sq. ft. home just fine when the outdoor temps are below freezing and down to sub-zero, a common occurance here in So. Cal. And, no, you cannot burn with the doors open, the furnaces will not combust properly…so much for the ambiance…..and yes, this is Big Brother just gettin’ in your face again….Don’t care for this?…wait till Big Brother Obama gets his chance….hahaha….you liberal suckers will get yours!…just wait and c.
The gov’t is broke and we are wasting money on this?
Maybe they should ban tobacco smoke first. With millions lit up every day, just imagine the FINE PARTICULATE matter they generate!
It’s about time. Especially for the outdoor firehearths. I have an outdoor gas firepit and my home fireplace is gas and yes, I use them both quite often in the winter. I don’t care how high my gas bill is as I made sure when I bought my home that I had a fixed rate small mortgage. The comfort of my home comes first. I have neighbors who have wood burning outdoor firepits or chimineas and if these are being used, you really can’t open your windows for evening fresh air, unless you like the smell of smoke in your home while you sleep and a bit of coughing. These wood burners are great if your are living on a minimum of 20 acres, but to have these in tract neighborhoods just doesn’t work. People burned wood for heating and cooking for years, again, out on big properties, not in tract homes. All the power to clean up the air.
Another great idea to put more companies out of business.
Enough already! STOP IT!
hi cool