results in reduced particulate emissions the method requires the deflection of air used for combustion below the firewood heating the air with embers located below the firewood and using the heated air for combustion application_number US 7291708 A description applicant has discovered that a way to improve the burning efficiency and to reduce particulate emissions of a wood burning fireplace is to have the air entering the combustion chamber that is used for combustion be pre heated applicant has discovered that this can be achieved by guiding the air entering the combustion chamber 15 beneath the firewood e g the logs 12 14 in a space 22 between the logs and the heated embers 16 as for example shown in fig2 as the air moves past the heated embers it is heated and then rises to aid in the combustion of the logs 12 14 to achieve this effect a baffle or deflector 24 such as for example a deflector plate is positioned in front of the grate so that air 18 a entering the combustion chamber strikes the deflector 24 and is deflected downward towards the embers as for example along a path 26 in an exemplary embodiment the deflector is a plate angled from the vertical plane along an angle 28 in an exemplary embodiment the angle 28 between a vertical plane and the deflector plate 24 is 15 u00b0 such that the air striking the deflector plate is guided beneath the grate in other exemplary embodiments the angle 28 may be in the range from about greater than 0 u00b0 to 60 u00b0 in a further exemplary embodiment the deflector outer surface.