Placer County Takeaway

Buckley Rumford Fireplaces
Larger Issue
for the Masonry Fireplace Industry
10/26/23

What appears to have happened in Placer County is that the plans examiner in the Building Department apporved the Rumford after reviewing the test results. A year later a building inspector had reservations and went to the Air District. Otherwise the Air Distyrict would probably never have known about the Rumford.
The various building departments in California seem to be able to interpret air district rules as they relate to building perits. Some builing officials clealy think they do interpret and enforce the air distrit rules.
Masonry fireplaces are permited in most of California and even sometimes in the thrity-five air districts if they are outdoors, used for cooking, at a certain altitude, etc.

But if a masory fireplace is built in one of the air districts, even if it has the approval of the buidling department, the air districts apper to be able to enforce thier own rules even though they have no administrative procedure to do so. They rely exclusively on reported violations of rules that are not well known and not coordinated with the building departments.
The resulting confusing situation is that maybe you can get a building permit to build a Rumford fireplace but at any time, if the air district finds out, it could find you in vioation of the air district rules and demand a substantial penalty.
So what do we do? Unless we can win in court with a not guilty plea setting a precedent or somehow change the air district rules, we take a substantial risk by selling fireplaces in any of the thirty-five air ditricts in California.

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