Wood Fire Ban a Load of Bollocks

By Rupert Truscott-Hughes on August 18, 2016 in Other

In the July Monthly Mailbag in this very magazine, one particular letter to the editor caught my attention. The letter, titled ‘Wood Fires on the Nose’, was sent in by Dr Stephen Lightfoot, a name I recognise from the Save Bronte movement, which fought against the Bronte RSL development. In it, Dr Lightfoot calls on Waverley Council to “clean up our local atmosphere and ban wood fires”. Clearly Dr Lightfoot has some time on his hands now that the RSL development saga has seemingly come to an end.

Firstly, I should declare my interests here: I have a couple of wood fuelled fires in my premises and I delight in sparking them up when the temperature dips to the frosty depths that Sydney often faces – i.e. anything less than 20 degrees tops. As Dr Lightfoot noted, “Not only do they keep you warm, but, let’s face it, who doesn’t like to sip a Hunter Shiraz in front of a crackling open fire?” Replace ‘Hunter Shiraz’ with ‘Domaine de la Romanée-Conti’ and you’ve got an accurate description of a lazy Sunday evening at the Truscott-Hughes estate.

While I understand Dr Lightfoot’s concern, I think it is largely misguided. For starters, the smoke from a wood fire smells delightful, and I think most people would agree. Comparing it to cigarette smoke is somewhat akin to comparing the two red wines mentioned above.

It’s also important to look at the alternatives. Would Dr Lightfoot prefer that local residents instead revert to electric heaters fuelled by Tony Abbott’s favourite combustible black rock? I can’t confirm which is the lesser of the two evils, but I can’t imagine that dragging all that coal out of the dirt and converting it into electricity is a particularly ‘clean’ process. Sure, there’ll be a little less particle pollution here in the Eastern Suburbs, but I don’t imagine Dr Lightfoot would enjoy Rupert, of all people, accusing him of being a Nimby.

On thing Dr Lightfoot would be pleased to hear, though, is that the City of Montreal has banned wood burning fireplaces. In saying that, let’s not forget that Montreal’s record low summer temperatures are similar to Sydney’s record low winter temperatures. In fact, for three months of the year Montreal’s average top temperature is below freezing. The point I’m making is that over there they actually need their heaters, and they need them often. If everyone in Montreal, a city slowly nudging up towards 2 million people, was sipping red wine in front of the fire I imagine they’d probably create quite a bit of air pollution. Here in Sydney, conversely, the handful of people who own an operational wood fire and actually bother to light it would probably create about as much smoke as Dr Lightfoot is blowing out hot air.

I can’t be certain if the tears in Dr Lightfoot’s eyes are a result of the smoke from my wood fire or from his disappointment at not owning one. Either way, I’ll be throwing an extra log on and raising my glass of Burgundy in his honour this evening.