Burning wood in the Bay Area will be illegal on Tuesday, Feb. 3, as the 23rd Winter Spare the Air Alert is announced.
The Bay Area Air Quality Management District started the Spare the Air program in a bid to educate residents regarding the effects of air pollution. The program calls for the residents to actively take actions, which will help in improving the area's air quality.
Established in 1991, the Spare the Air program also aims to cut down air pollution in the Bay Area by issuing an advance notice to residents about the day when another Spare the Air Alert is in effect. The agency issues the alert when the air quality in the Bay Area is estimated to be unhealthy.
The burning of wood, solid fuel and manufactured fire logs is banned both outdoors and indoors for 24 hours.
Even though the agency did not issue an alert for Monday, Feb. 2, it has requested the public not to burn wood as air pollution was higher than expected. Wood burning was not illegal but was strongly discouraged on Monday.
"It's Groundhog Day and unfortunately we haven't seen any change in our weather," said Jack Broadbent, executive officer of the Air District. "Once again we are calling an alert tomorrow and we're also asking the public to voluntarily refrain from burning today to help us avoid wood smoke build-up in our neighborhoods."
The alert means that businesses and residents in the area will not be able to use fireplaces, pellet stoves, outdoor fire pits, wood stoves, or any other wood-burning devices during the alert period.
The Air District suggests that a strong temperature inversion is causing fine particulate matter to build up in the Bay Area. Additionally, unhealthy air coming from the Central Valley may also contribute to the air pollution in several parts of the Bay Area.
The agency revealed that there are about 1.4 million fireplaces in the Bay Area and smoke from burning wood is the biggest contributor to air pollution during winter months.
People who burn wood despite the alert will have to pay a fine. First-time offenders will have to pay $100 or above. They also have an option of taking up a wood smoke awareness class in lieu of the fine. Subsequent offenses may result in fines starting at $500.
Residents who do not have permanent electric or gas heaters are exempt from the ban.
