For the fifth day in a row, a Winter Spare the Air Alert has been issued which means wood burning is banned both indoors and outdoors on Saturday for the full 24 hours with exemptions for homes that have no other source of heat. This is now the 27th Winter Spare the Air Alert issued since Nov. 1.
Air quality in the Bay Area is forecast to be unhealthy. It is illegal for Bay Area residents to burn wood or other solid fuels in fireplaces, wood stoves and inserts, pellet stoves, outdoor fire-pits, or other wood-burning devices.
Anyone who violates the burning ban will be given the option of taking a wood smoke awareness class or paying a $100 fine. A second violation is increased to a $500 fine.
Winter air pollution is mainly caused by particulates or soot pollution from wood smoke. Smoke from wood-burning fires is linked to illnesses such as asthma, bronchitis and lung disease, and is especially harmful for children and the elderly.
This wood-burning ban will be in effect for Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, southern Sonoma and southwestern Solano Counties. (Visit www.sparetheair.org/Stay-Informed/Todays-Air-Quality/Reporting-Zones.aspx to see if your city is located within the Air District.)
For more information about the Wood Burning Rule, or to check before you burn, visit www.sparetheair.org or call 1-877-4NO-BURN.
4 comments
I understand the need for Spare the Air. But when it’s going to be so cold you need to give people a break once in a while. We can’t afford to use our heater and in the summer we can’t afford to used our AC. There has been 27 spare the air days since Nov. 1.
Look! The Gov’t also gets to tell you when you can and can’t be warm!
Lol get what yall vote for when yall keep voting in liberal trash.
I didn’t vote for it.
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