Outrage over push to ban wood heaters across Australia: 'What happens when the power goes out?'

Call for ban after study shows wood fire risk Medical journal estimates 65 die a year in ACT  READ MORE:  ACT phasing out wood heaters

Aussies have been left outraged over a push to ban new wood heaters from homes following a study highlighting their deadly effects.

A study published in the Medical Journal of Australia on Monday found smoke from domestic wood heaters killed up to 63 people a year in the ACT alone.

This is because tiny particles in wood smoke can enter the bloodstream through the lungs, resulting in respiratory conditions such as asthma and also increasing the risk of heart attacks, strokes and cancer.

The research team from Canberra’s Australian National University said the pollution emitted by wood heaters is similar to that attributed to the extreme smoke of the 2019–20 Black Summer bushfires and called for them to be banned in city settings.

The ACT has already banned the heaters prompting the authors of the study to push for the measure to be extended around Australia.

‘The number of wood heaters should be reduced by banning new installations and phasing out existing units in urban and suburban areas,’ they concluded.

The plea sparked outrage among Aussies who shared their anger to social media platform X with some claiming they were a cheaper alternative to electric heaters.

A new study has called for wood-fired heaters to be phased out because the smoke can be deadly

One labelled it ‘more leftist green BS zealotry’.

‘Utter bulls**t!’ another tweeted.

‘They are trying to take away our oil and now trying to take away burning wood.

‘These liars must be rebuffed! The Chinese burn coal to warm.’

‘The #HealthGestapo are coming for your wood heater, Aussies,’ another person wrote.

‘I s’pose briquette heaters are abhorred even more among the well-shod, faux-eco set ..’

‘No!’ tweeted another dissenter.

‘You’ll take my woodfire place from my chilly unwarmed hands. I’d sooner prefer we banned local government.’

Some questioned how households would keep warm without the option of wood heating if energy bills keep spiking.

‘Australian lives matter – but taking this action, involves a degree of calculated risk, with low income or financially at risk mortgaged households unable to combat the depths of winter, with alternative costly heating expenditure,’ one argued.

‘Whether you love or hate wood burners the problem is our religious devotion to wind and sun energy. How else will you heat your home when the there is no power?’ another said.

Some thought the problem was the type of heater or stove being used.

The ACT is already moving to ban wood-fired heaters from 2045 while other states have held inquiries into the air pollution they emit

‘It’s weird that articles like this that decry the terrible pollution of well designed combustion heaters never point the finger at cheap fire pits & braziers available at most hardware stores that throw smoke every which way,’ they said.

There were some voices raised in support of a ban.

‘It’s a no brainer, wood stoves absolutely should be banned,’ one person tweeted.

‘Anyone with emphysema, lung problems or asthma, it’s like a ticking time bomb.’ RIP Buy a heater that mimics flames, powered by solar & save lives. Leave fallen tree trunks for animals.’

‘More compelling evidence on domestic #woodburning harm,’ another wrote.

In August, the ACT government announced it would phase out wood-fired heaters by 2045.

ACT Environment Minister Rebecca Vasarotti said a previous report by the Territory’s Commissioner for Sustainability and the Environment found there was ‘no safe level of air pollution’ from wood-fired heaters.

Wood smoke has previously been estimated to cause 269 premature deaths a year where a government inquiry found the heaters were responsible for up to 24 per cent of air pollution in winter from just four per cent of homes.

The smoke is estimated to cause 269 premature deaths per year. 

A 2021 government inquiry in Victoria also found wood heating was a ‘significant contributor’ to urban air pollution.

Around 900,000 homes nationally use wood heaters with the industry arguing their newer models have low emissions.