Directors of the Sacramento Metropolitan Air Quality Management
District next week will consider adopting a rule to ban the use
of fireplaces and wood stoves on "no-burn days." The public's
health is the impetus. Air-pollution authorities fret that
particles in wood smoke curling from chimneys aggravate and harm
respiratory systems. The rule would restrict Sacramento County
residents from burning wood in their fireplaces only during the
25 to 30 days a year when particulate pollution is most severe.
As a health measure, the proposed rule also potentially could
help relieve the nation's obesity epidemic, but air-pollution
authorities aren't going that far. Pizza parlors with wood-fired
ovens, barbecue joints with wood-fired smokers and any other
cooking device that relies on wood for fuel would be exempt from
the restriction, says Christina Ragsdale, spokeswomen for the
district. And what of those few people who on occasion may use
their home fireplace to grill some chops, which while unusual
here isn't unhear