Residents Urged Not To Burn Wood

The Bay Area Air Quality Management District is recommending Bay Area residents not burn wood in their fireplaces or woodstoves on Thursday, Dec. 22 and Friday, Dec. 23, to prevent air quality from becoming unhealthy.

Wood burning on those days is not illegal, but strongly discouraged.

"The weather is once again trapping wood smoke pollution in the Bay Area the way cigarette smoke used to fill restaurants, bars and airplanes 30 years ago," Jack Broadbent, Executive Officer of the Bay Area Air District, said in a statement.

"The inversion layer, coupled with light winds, is like closing all the windows and doors and trapping the air pollution throughout the Bay Area," Broadbent said.

The Bay Area is experiencing one of the driest December's on record. The current weather pattern is trapping wood smoke pollution over most of northern and central California including Reno, Nevada.

The long range forecast suggests a continuation of dry possibly cold weather through the Christmas holiday. It's important for Bay Area residents to check each day before they burn and make plans for alternate heat while the pollution trapping pattern persists.

The public must check before they burn during the Winter Spare the Air season, which runs from November 1 through February 29.  The daily burn status can be found:

o       On the Air District Web sites: www.baaqmd.gov or www.sparetheair.org
o       Via the toll-free hotline 1-877-4-NO-BURN (complaints can also be filed via the hotline)
o       By signing up for AirAlerts at www.sparetheair.org or by signing up for phone alerts at 1-800-430-1515.