Winter Spare the Air Alert in effect for Wednesday, December 9

The following information was provided by the Bay Area Air
Quality Management District:
The Bay Area Air Quality Management District is issuing the 2
Winter Spare the Air Alert of the season for Wednesday, December 9,
2009, which bans burning wood, manufactured firelogs or any other
solid fuel, both indoors and outdoors.
“Cold temperatures and light winds will create a blanket of
unhealthy air pollution over the Bay Area,” said Jack Broadbent,
executive officer of the Air District. “Children, the elderly and
those with heart and lung problems are especially susceptible to
the effects of pollution from wood smoke.”
Air quality in the Bay Area is forecast to be unhealthy due to
weather conditions that will trap the smoke in the air. During this
Winter Spare the Air Alert, it is illegal for Bay Area residents
and businesses to use their fireplaces, woodstoves and inserts,
pellet stoves, outdoor fire pits, or any other wood-burning
devices.
The public must check before they burn during the Winter Spare
the Air season which runs from November 1 through February 28. The
daily burn status can be found:
On the Air District Web sites: www.baaqmd.gov or www.sparetheair.org
Via the toll-free hotline 1-877-4-NO-BURN (complaints can also
be filed via the hotline)
By signing up for AirAlerts at www.sparetheair.org or by signing
up for phone alerts at 1-800-430-1515.
This winter is the second winter season the Wood Burning Rule is
in effect There are expected to be, on average, approximately 15-20
Winter Spare the Air Alerts during the season. This season, Winter
Spare the Air Alerts will be declared the day prior to the alert
going into effect. Each day by 2 p.m., the Air District will issue
an air quality forecast. If air quality is forecast to be
unhealthy, a Winter Spare the Air Alert will be called for the next
day. The Alert will be in place for 24 hours – one calendar day –
active from midnight-to-midnight.
Those who burn during a Winter Spare the Air Alert will receive
a warning for the first violation and a second violation is subject
to a $400 ticket. The ticket amount will increase with any
subsequent violations, depending on the severity of the
infraction.
Wood smoke is a major source of wintertime air pollution in the
Bay Area and contains harmful pollutants such as particulate matter
and carbon monoxide, as well as toxins such as dioxin, which is
linked to increased cancer rates in adults. In the winter, wood
smoke from the 1.4 million fireplaces and wood stoves in the Bay
Area contributes about one-third of the harmful particulate
pollution in the air.
The Bay Area Air Quality Management District (www.baaqmd.gov) is
the regional agency chartered with protecting air quality in the
Bay Area.