Community Corner

UPDATE: No Fires Allowed Saturday, Says Air Quality Control Agency

"We're not picking these days for the fun of it or anything, it completely has to do with the science behind air pollution," says spokesman

UPDATE: Friday, Dec. 27, 2013

The Bay Area Air Quality Management District is issuing another Winter Spare the Air Alert for Saturday, Dec. 28, which bans the burning of wood, manufactured fire logs or any other solid fuel both indoors and outdoors for 24 hours.

It is the the sixth consecutive such alert this week and the 21st winter alert this year.

UPDATE: Thursday, Dec. 26, 2013

The Bay Area Air Quality Management District is issuing another Winter Spare the Air Alert for Friday , Dec. 27, which bans the burning of wood, manufactured fire logs or any other solid fuel both indoors and outdoors for 24 hours.

It is the the fifth consecutive such alert this week and the 20th winter alert this year.

UPDATE: Thursday, Dec. 26, 2013

The Bay Area Air Quality Management District is issuing another Winter Spare the Air Alert for Thursday, Dec. 26, which bans the burning of wood, manufactured fire logs or any other solid fuel both indoors and outdoors for 24 hours.

It is the fourth consecutive such alert this week.

UPDATE: Tuesday, Dec. 24, 2013

 

The Bay Area Air Quality Management District is issuing another Winter Spare the Air Alert for Wednesday, Dec. 25, which bans the burning of wood, manufactured fire logs or any other solid fuel both indoors and outdoors for 24 hours.

It is the third consecutive such alert this week.


PREVIOUSLY:
Put away the chestnuts.

The Bay Area Air Quality Management District has announced that wood burning will be banned in the region on Christmas Eve -- and possibly on Christmas Day, too.

Here's the KOFY-TV yule log video, in case you still want at least an image of a burning fire.

The weather is forecast to be dry and mild mid-week, with light winds. That has resulted in stagnant air that has allowed pollutants to accumulate close to the ground and made air unhealthy to breathe, Flannigan said.

"We haven't been seeing the rain we usually get that helps clean out the air," he said.

The announcement means Tuesday will be the 17th "Winter Spare the Air" day of the season. The air district will decide that day whether wood burning will also be banned on Christmas. 

If it all sounds Scrooge-like to tell residents they can't gather around the fire during the holidays, air quality officials ask people to keep in mind children, the elderly and those with asthma and other respiratory problems suffer when the air is thick with unhealthy particulate matter.

"We're not picking these days for the fun of it or anything, it completely has to do with the science behind air pollution," he said.

On Winter Spare the Air days, burning wood, manufactured fire logs or any other solid fuel is illegal both indoors and outdoors. Homes that depend on woodstoves or fireplaces as their only source of heat are exempt from the ban.

Those who get in trouble for violating the ban for the first time are given the choice of paying $100 or taking a wood smoke awareness class. Subsequent violations are met with fines of $500 or more.

Bay Area residents are advised to check the region's burn status before lighting a fire on any given day by visiting the air district's website at www.sparetheair.org or calling (877) 4-NO-BURN.






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