Davis fired up over proposed limits on wood-burning in homes
As nights turn cold and days stay gray, the city of Davis is weighing a ban on a symbol of domestic warmth: the wood-burning fireplace.
Not just fireplaces, but wood stoves that don't meet strict environmental standards.
Even the cleanest-burning stoves could be used only about half the days of winter, and then for just six hours a day, under the proposed ordinance. If enacted, it would be one of the toughest wood-burning measures in the state.
"It will restrict burning more than any other ordinance that we're aware of," said Alan Pryor, an environmental consultant who has spearheaded the effort.
The proposed fireplace ban has caused a ruckus in Davis, which currently has few restrictions.
City Councilman Stephen Souza said the debate is nearly as heated as the recent fights over the Covell Village subdivision, which failed at the ballot box in 2005, or a Target store, which voters approved and which is now being built.
Residents concerned about environmental health, including folks with asthma and other breathing problems, are firing off letters and phoning city officials.
So are those who burn wood for warmth or pleasure. Some have expressed their love of the "primal" quality of an open fire.
Council members are approaching the issue with caution.
Souza said he wants to increase government rebates to help people replace their open fireplaces or old-style wood stoves with cleaner-burning stoves.
Councilman Don Saylor says he considers the whole issue up for discussion. The council likely won't vote until at least the second week of January, he said.
Pryor said he first proposed a total ban on wood burning after caring for his mother, who died of lung cancer last year.
He said a neighbor in Merced stoked his wood stove night and day, and the smoke seeped into his mother's house, even with the windows and doors sealed.
He realized that wood burning could be a localized health hazard, with smoke drifting to neighbors' houses, even on days when regional air quality allowed it.
"The research we did found very high neighborhood concentrations (of particulate matter) that are relatively independent of regional concentrations," he said.
The current proposal – passed by the city's Natural Resources Commission just before Thanksgiving – is a scaled-back version of the total ban that Pryor sought.
Unlike other rules around the region, it takes wind speed into account, in addition to the amount of particulate matter in the air.
When winds are under 5 mph, Pryor said, smoke settles in a neighborhood.
So burning with clean-burning stoves or pellet stoves would be allowed only on breezy days with low levels of air pollution.
Those conditions exist on about half the days from November through February, Pryor said.
Roger Schiffman, who heats his entire home with a clean-burning wood stove, said he doesn't want to create a health problem but remains unconvinced by proponents' data.
Schiffman, who works for an energy consulting firm, said he spends $700 to $800 a year on wood – much less than his prior gas bills.
He also said he gets "a higher quality heat from the wood," and his house stays warmer.
Schiffman is worried about losing the $10,000 he spent to install the wood stove and the upgrades, including circulating fans and ducts, that allow it to heat the whole house.
"It would cost us more," he said, "and result in a colder house for us than what we currently enjoy."
PROPOSED DAVIS FIREPLACE, STOVE RESTRICTIONS
Davis City Council will vote in January whether to impose restrictions on fireplaces and wood stoves. The Davis proposal would:
Ban: Wood burning in open fireplaces and wood stoves not certified Phase II by the EPA;
Permit: Wood burning in pellet stoves or EPA-certified wood stoves on "allowable burn days" for a maximum of six hours a day. The proposal defines allowable days as those with wind speeds of 5 mph or more and light air pollution, as determined by regional air quality officials.
Exempt: Stoves or fireplaces used as a home's sole heat source, or during power failures.
