[A] powerful special district with the task of clearing the air in four smoggy Southern California counties, including Riverside, is going to make builders stop framing tract homes with wood-burning fireplaces. As of March 9, all new homes in heavily populated areas of Riverside, Orange, Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties will have to have gas-log fireplaces —- or no fireplaces at all.

Then, in fall 2011, the South Coast Air Quality Management District will begin issuing orders for people with traditional fireplaces to avoid lighting fires on days when soot pollution is high. The agency says those temporary bans on fires will occur, on average, 10 to 20 days each winter.

I suppose this could be purely an altruistic move to make Santa’s big night safer, but in reality I guesss it’s just that some government agencies and their minions have nothing better to do than micromanage how people live in their own homes.  Kinda makes one wonder if there was more to San Diego’s attempt to remove all the beach fire pits under the guise of “budget cuts.”