Wood-burning fireplaces are not the real worry

I was dismayed, but not surprised, to see a recent letter urging the county to further restrict wood-burning fireplaces. I suspect that the writer really wants to ban wood-burning fireplaces as they are already heavily restricted by the many Spare the Air days (which seem to uncannily appear often during the Thanksgiving and Christmas breaks).

It’s important to note that wood-burning fireplaces can’t be installed in newly built homes. Additionally, many homeowners choose to replace wood-burning fireplaces with natural gas fireplaces when remodeling, so this is a diminishing issue in Marin County.

We’d be better off turning our attention to the vastly more important task of reducing the large forest fires that plague our state and could easily devastate our county.

Imagine how the volume of smoke from a large forest fire compares to our local fireplaces. Activists should turn their attention to insisting on immediate state and federal action of robust forest management including controlled burns, which are often foolishly opposed by local groups. Fire breaks around vulnerable communities should be a must in our state to save lives.

I realize that it’s easier for local activists to ban wood-burning fireplaces here than it is to convince China and India to stop building coal fired energy plants. However, in California we live in an increasingly regulatory state where the loud voices can and have changed our ability to choose what we do. My hope is that this remaining simple pleasure will not be further curtailed.

— Robert Stenson, Larkspur