Kerosine Space Heaters Fuel Yankee Resistance
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The Editor’s Opinion Page
In this age of punched cards, computer-generated decisions and plastic money, it’s reassuring to learn that the spirit of Yankee individuality not only still lives, but is vigorous enough to rebel against legislative buck-passing.
The New Hampshire legislature warmed up to the new generation of kerosine space heaters just enough to acknowledge that they were acceptable in homes provided each householder obtained a permit from the local fire chief. Before the General Court (that’s the legislature in the Granite State) passed the legislation, it heard lengthy testimony from fire chiefs who charged that the unvented heaters are too dangerous to be allowed in residences.
Thus the buck was passed, but at a meeting of the New Hampshire Association of Fire Chiefs, some 40 to 50 members in attendance showed they knew what to do with a buck and they shot it down. They voted unanimously not to issue permits for the use of portable kerosine heaters “inside occupied structures.”
In effect, they sent the hide of the buck back to the legislators and deprived the legislation of any meat. We congratulate the New Hampshire chiefs for taking action to support their convictions at the risk of being taken into court, one by one, through legal actions to force the issuance of permits.
At its conference in June, the New England Association of Fire Chiefs took a more conservative stand and unanimously passed a resolution “strongly condemning the sale and use of these unvented heaters.” They are taking this resolution to Philadelphia next month for adoption at the IAFC conference.
