Fall is around us and the cold weather and rain are here. But you had better go to Walmart and get some more sweaters if you want to stay warm. You can’t use a wood burning fireplace anymore. So it looks like you will be paying a larger heating bill this winter.

Do to new laws and some of the toughest fines in California, when it’s cold in Concord, using wood will get you fined up to ‘thousands of dollars‘ depending on the situations.

Effective today with the start of the burn season, the new Bay Area rule bars people from burning wood fires in fireplaces and wood stoves on bad air nights. The rule also bars excessive smoke from indoors fires any time of year.

How will the city know if you burn wood?

The offenders will be tattled on by their neighbors. Yes, your neighbors with all of the neighborly love are going to call the police or the Bay Area Air Quality Management District on you for using your fireplace.

The exact amount will be determined on a case-by-case assessment of several criteria set out in the state health and safety code. Those include the severity of the smoke, the impact on neighbors, the number of complaints and a violator’s ability to pay fines — the same issues weighed in fining an oil refinery for a chemical release.

I get it, we need to be more aware of what we are doing with the environment. But making me pay PG&E twice as much every year is not going to do me any good either! What are other alternatives to stay warm this winter and still not have the neighbors calling the cops on me?

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