As of Oct. 1, despite the weather getting colder in Montreal, the city’s new laws have placed a ban on fireplaces or wood-burning stoves that don't strictly adhere to the newly introduced emissions standards.

Montreal’s new bylaw places a ban on wood burning and the burning of any solid fuel in residences in all of Montreal’s 19 boroughs—with the exception of if the stove or fireplace is one of the newest, cleanest burning models. This means every fireplace must be certified to emit no more than 2.5 grams of fine particles per hour.

For every home with a functioning fireplace, it must register with the city, and even the use of clean burning wood stoves will equally be restricted if there’s a smog warning in effect.

The introduction of the new rules has been profitable for certain business with the owner of  Poeles et Foyers Rosemont, Normand Hamel, noting that he’s had a spike in sales and feels like his business hit a jackpot—just like using a  InstaCasino Bonus Code to win big.

“It's the first time since the energy crisis or the ice storm that we got 25 years ago that we're busy like that,” said Hamel.

Hamel noted that a lot of new business comes from various homeowners needing to make expensive changes to existing fireplaces.

“We are at the third week of September and we are booked until December,” he said in a report.

Wood burning is the most significant source of fine particle pollution in Montreal, second to only vehicle emissions. Nonetheless, it possesses serious harm to human health as these fine particles emitted are inhaled deep into the lungs, causing lots of damage.

Since 2013, the World Health Organization has classified the fine particulate matter in wood smoke as a carcinogen. According to estimates by the Institut National de Santé Publique (INSPQ), “wood smoke causes about 900 premature deaths per year on the island of Montreal, more than 6,000 cases of bronchitis in children, 40,000 asthma attacks and almost 300 emergency visits to hospitals for other respiratory and cardiac problems.”

Also, in 2011, a study conducted by the INSPQ and Montreal’s public health agency estimated that neighbourhoods that heat with wood have a significantly higher rates of hospital admissions for respiratory problems than those that do not. In that same year, Quebec’s public health institute and Montreal’s public health agency collaborated on a study to quantify the health impacts of wood stoves in Rivière-des-Prairies, where a large proportion of residential homes use wood for heating. They discovered an increase in asthma attacks and bronchitis, as well as increased aggravation of other severe respiratory symptoms and premature deaths.

The city of Montreal noted that burning wood is the cause of 40 percent of fine particle emissions in the city, a result that the Montreal Public Health says can lead to serious health problems.

“Fine particles are known by the World Health Organization to cause lung cancer,” said Karine Price of Montreal Public Health.

 

Price noted that fine particles also cause smog and she expects those suffering from cardiac or respiratory diseases—such as asthma—to be the greatest benefactors of the new bylaw.

Failure to comply with the new rules, or refusal to declare your wood-burning device will attract a hefty fine of $100 to $500 for a first offence, up to $1,000 for a second, and up to $2,000 for subsequent offences.

However, businesses that use wood ovens are exempted from the bylaw.