‘A roaring fireplace’: the polluting raffle prize promoted by the British Heart Foundation | Air pollution

The British Heart Foundation (BHF), which has campaigned on the pollution risks of burning wood at home, is being urged to review a charity draw for a £3m London townhouse, with a fire pit on the garden terrace and open fires in the property.

A promotional video shows wood being burned in the metal fire pit at the property in north London and an open fire next to a bath. “Take a soak in your sumptuous stone tub and relax to the crackling sounds of the roaring fireplace,” says the promotion.

The BHF has been at the forefront of the campaign to highlight the risk of open fires. New data published last year found wood burning in homes produces more small particle pollution than all road traffic in the UK.

The draw has been promoted widely by the charity in partnership with Omaze, a for-profit fundraising company, in which 15 entries can be bought for £10 and 320 entries can be bought for £150.

Jemima Hartshorn, founder and director of Mums for Lungs, said the BHF’s decision to raise money in this way was “regrettable and highlights a lack of awareness of the link between wood-burning, air pollution and health”.

A BHF spokesperson said: “Omaze, who run the Million Pound House Draw, are urgently reviewing this issue and we await the outcome of that review.

“As the UK’s leading heart health charity, we have campaigned for legislation to address the health harms caused by air pollution, including its damaging impact on the heart and circulatory system.”

The property being marketed by the BHF is in Islington, north London, which is a smoke-control zone where it is an offence to burn unauthorised fuel. Householders can be fined up to £1,000 for burning fuel without an exempt appliance.

The website for the mayor of London warns: “Open fireplaces are the most polluting way to burn solid fuels and pose the greatest risk to health and so should be avoided.”

While total annual emissions in the UK of the pollutant PM2.5, which are small particles hazardous to health, have fallen in recent years, there has been an increase in emissions from wood burning because of the popularity of wood-burning stoves and open fires.

The townhouse offered in the draw has four bedrooms, a garden studio and outdoor seating area. A video on the BHF website, promoted by chief executive Dr Charmaine Griffiths, shows what appears to be wood burning in the outside fire pit and a fire burning in the living room, with wooden logs stored in a nearby container.

The BHF has campaigned to warn people of the risks from wood burning. “Few people know that for every minute we spend warming ourselves by the fire, tiny toxic air pollution particles known as PM2.5 are being released into the air, causing harm to our health,” the charity said in a blog in March 2020.

The government introduced restrictions in May 2021 on the sale of coal, wet wood and manufactured solid fuels for burning in the home. The BHF said at the time the policy was “a step in the right direction” but that the government needed to move faster to tackle all sources of air pollution.

Under the agreement with Omaze for the draw, 80% of the net proceeds will go to the BHF. The costs of purchasing the house and marketing fees are deducted from the gross proceeds. Omaze has guaranteed a minimum total payment of £100,000 for the BHF, and the draw closes for online entries on 26 February.

A previous Omaze draw in 2021 for a four-storey property in south-west London raised £1m for the BHF. The charity said the partnership with Omaze had provided vital income at a time when donations were adversely affected by the pandemic.

Omaze, which has its headquarters in Los Angeles, offers participants the chance to win prizes, including properties, expensive cars and holidays, with a proportion of the proceeds going to charity. The BHF said Omaze has raised £100m that has gone to support more than 350 charities around the world.

The venture was founded in 2012 by Matt Pohlson and Ryan Cummins, and has been described as a “celebrity-endorsed juggernaut”. U2 singer Bono and American footballer Tom Brady are reported to be among its investors.

Omaze said it would review the promotion and “take any appropriate action”. A spokesperson said: “We take our environmental responsibilities very seriously.”