Starting next year residents must register their wood-burning appliances – fireplaces, wood stoves, etc., – with Metro Vancouver or face fines up to $500. While it’s not a ban on fireplaces or wood stoves it is part of the plan to reduce emissions and to raise the profile of best burning practices.
Fires burning
Particulate matter sources
A September 2025 deadline, a bylaw passed in 2020, from Metro Vancouver for homeowners to voluntarily register their wood-burning appliances. The phased-in bylaw has the goal of reducing particulate matter from residential wood smoke.
“Indoor residential wood burning is responsible for more than a quarter of the harmful fine particle emissions in the region – more than any other source. Since heating generally occurs in the fall and winter, wood smoke can contribute even more to the fine particles in the air we breathe during those times of the year,” says Metro Vancouver.
The bylaw also includes a ban on a seasonal ban from May 15 – September 15. The goal is to reduce residential contributions to the already higher summertime ground-level ozone levels and increased particulate matter from wildfire smoke.
Bylaw 1303
The current requirements of the bylaw are as follows:
- Follow Best Burning Practices
- Best burning practices include:
- Use only clean, seasoned wood
- Don’t let your fire smoulder
- Don’t burn garbage, plastic, or treated wood
- Inspect and maintain your device
- Burn small and hot fires
- Best burning practices include:
- Seasonal Prohibition
- A ban on using residential indoor wood-burning devices is in effect annually from May 15 to September 15, with some exceptions.
- Declaration Requirements
- Registration Requirements
- Residents within Metro Vancouver’s Urban Containment Boundary must register their devices with Metro Vancouver.
- To qualify for registration, devices must meet emissions standards.
- Operational Restrictions
- From September 2025, unregistered devices will be prohibited from operation except during emergencies or if the device is the sole source of heat.
Incentives
Residents have an opportunity to receive a rebate for switching to a more environmentally friendly device. If residents forego their old uncertified wood-burning device (fireplace, wood stove, furnace) for a new low-emission device (heat pump, electric insert, certified wood-burning device, etc.), through Metro Vancouver’s Community Wood Smoke Reduction Program.
This webpage provides a simplified summary of sections of the bylaw. If you are considering the switch the following appliances may be eligible for a rebate.
- A free-standing uncertified wood stove.
- An uncertified fireplace insert, or tube-type heat exchanger with a face plate and door (like the ‘Free Heat Machine’ or ‘Welenco’) that is currently installed in an open hearth fireplace.
- An open-hearth fireplace.
- An uncertified “wood furnace” (ducted, forced air, home heating appliance) – may only be replaced by an EPA-certified wood furnace or pellet furnace or heat pump.
- A “homemade” or “barrel” stove.
- A wood-burning cook stove.
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