Outdoor Wood Furnaces on the Chopping Block in Sturgeon Bay

A recommendation from Sturgeon Bay’s Community Protection and Services Committee to ban outdoor wood furnaces used to heat homes is heading to the Common Council.

Fire Chief Tim Dietman has sought a ban on those types of heaters, which resemble a small outdoor shed or shanty with a wood-burning furnace and chimney, and which pipe hot water into houses. 

Current city code doesn’t address their use. Dietman said it would be best to prohibit them because there aren’t many properties in the city that have enough land for a setback to install those furnaces without causing a nuisance with smoke. 

The proposed city ordinance that City Attorney Jim Kalny drafted to ban outdoor wood-burning furnaces states, “No person shall construct, install, operate or use, or suffer to construct, install, operate or use any outdoor wood-fired furnace upon any property in the City of Sturgeon Bay.”

The penalty for violating the ordinance on the first offense would be a fine of not less than $15 nor more than $500, together with the costs of prosecution, and the minimum fine would be increased to $75 for a second offense within one year.