Cooking with Gas
Note: Here at Emphasis Added, we like to keep things fair and balanced. In the past, we’ve beat the big government drum pretty loudly (on important issues, of course…), but, in the noble spirit of limited government, allow me to present a fine anecdotal example of abuse and insane over-regulation. Let the guv’ment bashing begin…
Over the weekend, residents of multifamily buildings (condos and apartments) around Western Washington were notified of a change in the State fire codes. Among other things, the new regulations prohibit the use of gas or charcoal grills on outdoor decks and patios, and a ban on cut Christmas trees indoors (including inside churches) unless the tree is under a sprinkler head.
One can imagine the sleepy proceedings of the State legislature or whatever august body came up with these swell ideas, in which someone rises with the rather mundane proposal to bring the fire codes into compliance with the latest international standards. State legislators are rarely the brightest folks even when it comes to important and fairly well-understood issues, and it doesn't strain credulity to suggest that hardly anyone bothered to read the fire codes in question.
So now, the law goes on the books and people start getting these nasty notices from their condo boards and landlords. Residents are pissed off, building owners are pissed off that their terraced properties have lost significant practical value, and law enforcement is, shall we say, rather sanguine about the problems of policing this new category of criminal.
Now it’s not like there’s been a rash of building fires caused by gas grills and Christmas trees: probably about as many as are caused by flaming meteors or spontaneous human combustion. There has been no public outcry to ban deadly appliances of outdoor cookery, or, one would safely bet, change even a comma of the existing fire codes. Still, some legislator or bureaucrat felt sufficiently beholden to the public interest to spare us even the hint of a whiff of a risk, using the full compulsory authority of the government for our protection.
Best of all, these new rules go into effect July 1. I mean, if you want to slip something like this into law, don’t do it before the biggest barbecue weekend of the year! I’m not in a position to do this, but I hope someone invites the County Executive or whoever is behind this measure to a Fourth of July cookout on their 3rd floor balcony and invites a few television cameras for good measure.
Further note: I will be out of town until Monday, off to New York City and most likely out of blogs’ reach. Play nice, yo.
8:28:22 AM 
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