Are You Afraid of the Fireplace Police?

Concerns over the health effects of drifting wood smoke on windless days has prompted a bitter fight over a longstanding tradition.

A cozy fire in one's fireplace means heat for some, a traditional ambiance for others -- and an evening of respiratory troubles for those unlucky enough to live downwind.

The does issue periodic "Spare the Air" alerts -- which makes burning on those days an illegal act -- and dispatches a team of what many call "the wood police" to enforce the no-burn edicts and to issue warnings and, in some cases... fines ranging up to thousands of dollars for repeat offenders.

This has not gone down easily for some residents, many of whom were brought up with a fire snapping in their family's fireplace on holidays and on California's cold nights. In fact, some angry words have been delivered to BAAQMD officials and the agency's enforcement agents, profiled recently in a story by ABC-7 TV News reporter Jonathan Bloom.

Patch has heard in no uncertain terms from locals with wood-burning fireplaces who say they openly defy local Spare the Air alerts, falling back on language reminiscent of the "You'll take my gun from my cold, dead hand..." response used to answer gun control advocates.

Where do you stand on the wood-burning issue? Plan on making the conversion to natural gas inserts or to keep your trusty hearth? And if you suffer from respiratory ailments made worse by the inhalation of wood smoke, we'd like to hear from you, too.