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Following extensive discussions about health impacts from wood burning, the Community Environmental Advisory Commission concluded that exposure to wood-smoke particles may result in acute and chronic health problems.  

CEAC has prepared 10 actions for consideration to reduce the adverse health effects from smoke generated by wood burning and are requesting public comment on them.  

They include: 

• Promote an area-wide public awareness campaign  

under the auspices of the Bay Area Air Quality Management District; 

• Adopt an ordinance banning old-fashioned wood stoves and open space fireplaces in new residential construction, and set standards for appropriate choice of fuels; 

• Ban new commercial installations of fireplaces and wood ovens or require that smoke-control measures be employed;  

• Adopt an ordinance requiring before the sale of a house that open fireplaces and old-fashioned wood stoves shall be either removed or replaced with gas logs, closed low-polluting fireplaces, or modern low-polluting wood stoves;  

• Adopt an ordinance requiring that a fireplace or wood-stove conversion shall be performed whenever a major house remodeling is proposed; 

• Enact a transfer-tax credit to help cover the cost of fireplace or wood-stove conversions before the house sale;  

• Establish a telephone hotline for complaints to Bay Area Air Quality Management District, which already has the authority to control excessive household chimney smoke emissions; 

• Adopt an ordinance prohibiting the use of fireplaces and wood stoves during “spare the air” days, and allowing a waiver for homes with no other sources of heat; 

• Enlist the support of the Berkeley Dispute Resolution Service to help resolve wood-smoke problems concerning specific houses; 

• Develop a plan to further study the magnitude of air pollution by wood-smoke, using technologically advanced air-sampling devices at multiple locations throughout Berkeley.  

Comments can be e-mailed to toxins@ci.berkeley.ca.us, faxed to 540-5672 or mailed to: Toxins Management Division, 2118 Milvia Street, 2nd Floor, Berkeley, CA 94704;  

The CEAC may discuss this at its Sept. 7 meeting, 7 p.m. on Sept. 7 at 2118 Milvia Street, Conference Room A.