[EggsAckley]

Argh. I'm freezing here. Think I'll go build a fire.

[markman46]

I don't understand how the Valley can have more pollution then LA can, no indoor burning ban are stupid
APCD/EPA thugs at work.

[jonestown]

The Proper Function Of Government
Address:http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1294092/posts

[HarryCaul]

"No Burn Days"????? Infrared chimney scanners??????? Neighbors reporting people who have a fire in the their fireplace?????

This must be some sort of parody.

I have to say, though, a neighbor every reported me for that, he damn well better obey every law there is from that day forward.

[Chad Fairbanks]

This is so much bulls**t. Blatant disregard for our constitutional rights on display by these "inspectors"...

However, there is one simple remedy (besides tar, feathers, and a rail) - simply disable your furnace, and you can have a fire in your woodstove\fireplace all you want because it is your primary source of heating for the home. If the furnace doesn't work because it's "broken" or "non-existant", well, they can't do crap to ya...

[proxy_user]

"He said the infrared guns are only used to verify that someone has an illegal fire in his fireplace after some other indication of the violation, such as a phone call from a neighbor or smelling smoke on days when it's too dark or foggy to see the smoke.

If this is the case, they have legal grounds to apply for a warrant and get around the problem.

[eno_]

This "inspector" is lucky not to have been shot.

[TheSpottedOwl]

Some of the offenders were caught after neighbors called the district's hot line to complain, but others were discovered while inspectors patrolled neighborhoods looking for violators.

Joanne, is that you?

Seriously, what a disgusting article. It's winter for pete's sake. How much pollution could Bakersfield be suffering from? Imo, it's not the threat of poor air quality, it is the latest way for the city of Bakersfield to rake in more money in the form of fines.

[sergeantdave]

This is clearly a case that calls for tar and feathers. The insanity in California has reached plague proportions. It would not surprise me to hear of a fascist bureaucrat ventlated with a .357.

[Logical me]

CA if has become a cesspool of garbage bureaucratic crap. If a civil war in America ever starts, it will start in CA.

[zeugma]

The supreme Court has already ruled that it is illegal for the police state to use infrared cameras to search for growers of demon weed. How could they think this would be any different?

[Uncle George]

In Bakersfield they call them, "The Fireplace Nazis".

[Species8472]

The cops up here were using these things to locate the dope growing operations but were shot down by the courts as an invasion of privacy.

Great tool for us firefighters though.....