Borough residents must register fireplaces by Dec. 22 or face fines
Before you stack your firewood for the winter, if you live in a borough of Montreal, you might want to sit down and fill out a Schedule A form in accordance with City of Montreal bylaw 15-069, which states you are compelled to register your wood-burning device before Dec. 22 or face stiff fines.
The West Island boroughs of Lachine, Pierrefonds-Roxboro and Île-Bizard-Ste-Geneviève must comply with the bylaw which came into effect Aug. 18.
Homeowners who do not comply with the registration process can be fined up to $500 for the first offence, up to $1,000 for the second offence and up to $2,000 for each refusal to comply beyond that.
There are around 50,000 wood-burning devices — which include both stoves and conventional fireplaces — in Montreal. A roaring fire makes a room cozy on a cold winter night, but it also releases fine particles into the air that can cause cardio-respiratory health problems. A report released by the World Health Organization in 2015 went as far as to say the burning of coal and wood “emit carcinogenic compounds.”
Article 5 of the bylaw stipulates that homeowners with wood-burning devices that exceed the new emissions standard of 2.5 grams of fine particles per hour must replace the device or have it adapted to meet the new standards by Oct. 1, 2018. Fireplaces fuelled by propane or natural gas are exempt.
Adapting an existing fireplace to the new standards involves buying an insert, which can cost between $2,000 and $4,000.
Even if you burn so-called eco-friendly logs, you will still need to adapt or switch your burning device. What type of log you burn does not make a difference. It’s the filtering system of the burning device that controls emissions. If you replace your wood-burning device, you must get a permit and fill in a declaration form.
In the case of a power outage lasting more than three hours, you are allowed to use any type of wood-burning device as long as it is in good working order.
Some West Island municipalities have their own wood-burning-device bylaws.
In 2009, Beaconsfield adopted a bylaw prohibiting the installation of new wood-burning devices, with the exception of pellet stoves or natural-gas burning devices. Existing fireplaces and stoves, however, can be maintained and repaired.
As is the rule in Montreal, no wood-burning devices may be used in Beaconsfield when there is a smog alert even if your wood-burning device meets emissions standards. Smog alerts in Beaconsfield are posted online and appear on electronic billboards. Pollution caused by wood burning is second only to car emissions for creating smog in Montreal in the winter.
Beaconsfield’s director of urban planning, Denis Chabot, said the municipality has no immediate plans to adopt a bylaw like the one in Montreal.
Baie-d’Urfé, Dorval and Kirkland have no plans to introduce a fireplace registry.
Kirkland director general Joe Sanalitro said its city council had reviewed Montreal’s regulations but, “had no intention of creating a registry.”
The registration form for Montreal boroughs is available at http://ville.montreal.qc.ca/portal/page?_pageid=7418,76005736&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL& t=1
source: Borough residents must register fireplaces by Dec. 22 or face fines
Before you stack your firewood for the winter, if you live in a borough of Montreal, you might want to sit down and fill out a Schedule A form in accordance with City of Montreal bylaw 15-069, which states you are compelled to register your wood-burning device before Dec. 22 or face stiff fines.
The West Island boroughs of Lachine, Pierrefonds-Roxboro and Île-Bizard-Ste-Geneviève must comply with the bylaw which came into effect Aug. 18.
Homeowners who do not comply with the registration process can be fined up to $500 for the first offence, up to $1,000 for the second offence and up to $2,000 for each refusal to comply beyond that.
There are around 50,000 wood-burning devices — which include both stoves and conventional fireplaces — in Montreal. A roaring fire makes a room cozy on a cold winter night, but it also releases fine particles into the air that can cause cardio-respiratory health problems. A report released by the World Health Organization in 2015 went as far as to say the burning of coal and wood “emit carcinogenic compounds.”
Article 5 of the bylaw stipulates that homeowners with wood-burning devices that exceed the new emissions standard of 2.5 grams of fine particles per hour must replace the device or have it adapted to meet the new standards by Oct. 1, 2018. Fireplaces fuelled by propane or natural gas are exempt.
Adapting an existing fireplace to the new standards involves buying an insert, which can cost between $2,000 and $4,000.
Even if you burn so-called eco-friendly logs, you will still need to adapt or switch your burning device. What type of log you burn does not make a difference. It’s the filtering system of the burning device that controls emissions. If you replace your wood-burning device, you must get a permit and fill in a declaration form.
In the case of a power outage lasting more than three hours, you are allowed to use any type of wood-burning device as long as it is in good working order.
Some West Island municipalities have their own wood-burning-device bylaws.
In 2009, Beaconsfield adopted a bylaw prohibiting the installation of new wood-burning devices, with the exception of pellet stoves or natural-gas burning devices. Existing fireplaces and stoves, however, can be maintained and repaired.
As is the rule in Montreal, no wood-burning devices may be used in Beaconsfield when there is a smog alert even if your wood-burning device meets emissions standards. Smog alerts in Beaconsfield are posted online and appear on electronic billboards. Pollution caused by wood burning is second only to car emissions for creating smog in Montreal in the winter.
Beaconsfield’s director of urban planning, Denis Chabot, said the municipality has no immediate plans to adopt a bylaw like the one in Montreal.
Baie-d’Urfé, Dorval and Kirkland have no plans to introduce a fireplace registry.
Kirkland director general Joe Sanalitro said its city council had reviewed Montreal’s regulations but, “had no intention of creating a registry.”
The registration form for Montreal boroughs is available at http://ville.montreal.qc.ca/portal/page?_pageid=7418,76005736&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL& t=1
source: Borough residents must register fireplaces by Dec. 22 or face fines
