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This is insanity!

They'd rather have folks use fossil fuels all the time than use renewable resources occassionally?

And the part about removing/blocking off fireplaces upon resale is lunacy. There are so many beautiful older homes with woodburning fireplaces - folks may block them off with sheetrock and drywall, but the new owners can simply remove them - That too is a waste of resources.

How about getting more cars off the road and encouraging the use of public transit instead?

A law like this was passed in the Sacramento area a while ago. Fireplaces can be grandfathered in but but you can't use them on certain days. Almost every new house now has a gas fireplace.

This is the sort of thing that makes me crazy. I live in Brooklyn in a renovated former tenement. When I bought the place it had four typical NY radiators in 650 square feet. In addition to taking up valuable space and being ugly (unless one considers them a sort of vintage architechtural detail) they put out an uncontrollable amount of humidity eating heat. This little coop also had the original very small wood burning fireplace. After my first winter there - constantly opening and closing windows, even in snowstorms, in order not to burn up, I began to use my little fireplace. It is heaven, beautiful and efficient. I had 2 radiators removed, keep them turned off, and have never looked back. It is insane for government to reach its control into every nook and cranny of our home lives. People need to step back, take a breath and do some thinking. OK, I'm ranting. Sorry.

This post is inaccurate, the article it cites states: "The agency removed a provision that Realtors said would have further hurt an already sagging real estate market: requiring wood-burning fireplaces to be removed or blocked off when a home was sold."

I visited India and Bangladesh in January, and the night air was *filled* with the smell of burning fireplaces, especially in Kolkata-- it was so bad that is was difficult to breathe outdoors. I know that we have many fewer fires here in California than in a developing country like India, but each and every fire leaves particulate matter in the air that contributes to smog and asthma. As much as I love a wood-burning fire, I agree that they should be regulated in urban areas where the woodsmoke adds to already poor air quality.

Seattle has had burn bans in effect at times during winter since at least the 80's. This is not a new problem.

Thanks for clarifying that Semolina...

Wood burning fireplaces are fine in areas with generally good air quality, where the population density isn't too high. But they're an asthma disaster in urban areas, especially places with poor air quality like the Inland Empire.

It is insane for government to reach its control into every nook and cranny of our home lives.

Hey, vent the chimney into your apartment and I'll have no problem with your stinky, polluting wood smoke. You choke on the junk. Dump that crap into my already-polluted air though and it's another story. Wood smoke - especially from fireplaces - is horribly polluting. Fine in sparsely populated areas, but not acceptable in the city when the air is stagnant.

FWIW, wood stoves may not have the same issues, especially some of the newer models, which burn the wood much efficiently and convert much of the usual pollution into less harmful emissions.

Sounds alot like a communist plot

Are you people crazy? Government control? As a Londoner I was amazed to see how many urban areas in the US still allow people to burn wood or coal. Lots of people used to die every winter from the smog in London before London went 'smokeless' in the '50's or '60's. Car pollution might get the headlines and contain all the nasty complicated chemicals, but the stuff a wood or coal fire puts out is still polluting and especially bad for asthmatics.

START HERE:
http://www.pointclickhome.com/home/articles/buying_guide_supplemental_heating

Read up here about EPA certified stoves:
http://www.epa.gov/woodstoves/

Download the pdf file on options too.

There are fireplace inserts that are certified, read here:
http://www.epa.gov/woodstoves/fireplaces.html

Once you have that pdf file, you can look up which ones seem most efficient, or just start browsing for fireplace inserts.

Quadra-Fire (listed under Hearth and Home) pellet inserts:
http://www.quadrafire.com/Products/Pellet_Burning/Pellet_Inserts.asp

Look for the cleanest burning possible, in case the requirements change in the future:
http://www.chimneysweeponline.com/inswood.htm

And read the history of wood stoves and pollution/EPA:
http://www.chimneysweeponline.com/hoepareg.htm

So now you wonder if they are all ugly. Inserts are not all ugly, they come in as many varieties as can be found in interior styles. Also, fireplaces are often due a makeover session. What about this beauty (site works odd, click around):
http://www.caminettimontegrappa.it/fireplaces-and-stoves/wood-stove-fireplace-inserts.htm

Click around here too:
http://www.euroheat.co.uk/index.php

And I think I'm in love with these (some available with natural gas inserts):
http://www.thegratefire.co.uk/products/combi.asp

Neat and tidy!
http://www.remodelista.com/2007/12/03/rais-wood-burning-stoves/