Retired Fire Safety officer Kevin Collins believes ECAN is breaking the law forcing people to change log fires that are over 15 years old.

Environment Canterbury is reaffirming its right to ask people to upgrade their fires, even as a former fire safety officer questions its legality.

ECan has told Timaru residents they should apply to replace their 15-years-old or older wood burners with low-emission burners by October 31, or face putting in a more expensive "ultra-low emission" burner.

Timaru man Kevin Collins says the council has no legal authority to make people install new fireplaces and get rid of their old ones.

JO MCKENZIE-MCLEAN Specialist fire investigator Kevin Collins said the Building Act was once his "bread and butter" and he was confident ECan was contravening it with their fireplace rules.

However ECan says technically it is not making people remove their old fireplaces, only telling them they cannot use them.

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Collins said on Tuesday the Building Act 1991, which was once his "bread and butter", contained a section which had the effect that no person or authority could require a building owner to upgrade any part of their building.

JOHN BISSET/FAIRFAX NZ Retired Fire Safety Officer Kevin Collins believes ECan is breaking the law forcing people to change log fires.

The only exceptions were if the building was dangerous or unsanitary, if alterations were carried out requiring a building consent, or if the use of the building changed.

"My view is that it's illegal until ECan can prove otherwise," he said.

But an ECan spokeswoman said the the council was not asking people to remove their fires, so the Building Act did not apply.

"Environment Canterbury cannot, and does not, ask a person to remove an open fire or wood burner, but we can require them to not use an open fire or wood burner.

"Our rules do not require wood burners or open fires to be removed, just that they are not used," she said.

A press information pack put out by the council said there were new rules "requiring wood burner users to burn smoke-free and to change to cleaner heating options over time".

The Resource Management Act (RMA) gave regional councils the power to manage the discharge of contaminants into the air, and when people had their wood burner replaced through the subsidy programme ECan could require older burners or open fires were disabled, she said.

Collins said ECan was being disingenuous.

"Where there's smoke there's fire," he said.

The council gave people an October 31 deadline to get their ultra-low emission fireplace, which brought ECan's policies back to the Building Act, Collins said.

"They know they are in the wrong, but they are not prepared to admitted it."

Under the Resource Management Act Collins also believed there was protection for people's "existing use rights", which allowed businesses and schools to continue operating their boilers - but an ECan spokeswoman said regional councils had the right, under the RMA, to revoke existing use rights.

"Environment Canterbury prefers to work with homeowners to replace outdated burners, and we have a large fund available for burner replacement subsidies for people in Timaru on low incomes who need financial assistance," she said.

Forty-eight people had taken advantage of the subsidies in the past year, the spokeswoman said.

Collins said he understood if ECan was going to revoke existing use rights it would have to write to each individual householder to inform them that was the case, and he had received nothing in the mail yet.

"There's a lot of people out there who have got on the bandwagon, but nobody's researched the legal [position].

"They have to come up with valid points."

The spokeswoman said ECan would not be providing a response to his views on notifying each individual homeowner.

* Inquiries on Environment Canterbury's subsidies are welcome at https://ecan.govt.nz/financialhelp