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Persistent stagnant weather is forcing the Bay Area Air Quality Management District to issue a ban on wood burning for the San Francisco Bay Area today.
The ban prohibits residents from burning wood, commercial fire logs and other solid fuel either indoors or outdoors for 24 hours. The ban is known as a Spare the Air Alert.
Violating the ban can result in fines of $500 and more, if the resident has been caught violating the ban previously. For the first offense, violators have the option of taking an awareness class in lieu of paying a $100 fine.
“We think the social cost of PM (particulate matter) pollution is in the billions of dollars” each year in the Bay Area, BAAQMD spokesman Aaron Richardson said. Richardson said PM pollution is linked with 2,800 premature deaths each year in the Bay Area.
Wood smoke is linked with respiratory illnesses and heart attacks.
“Persistent stagnant weather continues to trap wood smoke pollution in the region,” BAAQMD executive officer Jack Broadbent said. “Wood smoke … contains many of the same toxins as cigarettes.”
According to the BAAQMD, cool stagnant weather coupled with light winds will continue Wednesday causing pollution to build to unhealthy levels. The fine particulate matter in wood smoke is small enough that it can be inhaled deeply into the lungs and can enter the bloodstream, Richardson said.
Besides people with respiratory illnesses, wood smoke is especially harmful to seniors and children, according to the BAAQMD.
Bay Area residents and businesses are banned from using fireplaces, woodstoves, pellet stoves, outdoor fire pits or other devices that burn wood, except in homes where woodstoves or fireplaces are the only source of heat.
The Winter Spare the Air season started Nov. 1 and goes through Feb. 28, during which time residents and businesses must check whether the BAAQMD has issued a Spare the Air alert.
To check, call (877) 4-NO-BURN or visit www.baaqmd.gov or www.sparetheair.org.
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The weather forecast is for rain over the weekend. Please wait until then to start your fires. No rain, no fire. Very simple. Smoke pollution is very dangerous to humans. Thank you.
We would all be dead from all the forest fires. This is just another way to bully the people on Thanksgiving. They will do this also at Christmas time as well. Has nothing to do with the air quality.
On one side we have measured data from calibrated scientific instruments which is reported regularly as well as many first hand reports about how terribly affected many in the community are by wood smoke.
On the other side, we have rhetoric and bumper sticker-esque catch phrases about how big gub’ment has nothing better to do than mess with people.
Pick a side.
@Hmm
You do realize that nobody has forced you to live in a valley of 2 million people right? Last time I checked, the majority of the state, and the country for that matter, was pretty empty… not to mention dirt cheap.
@When science conflicts with agenda: This is standard “rhetoric” from Hmm. It seems that he(?) despises everybody and everything for some reason that none of us have been able to figure out yet.
But I guess this is his one outlet for all of his frustrations.
@Stop the Trolls
Why don’t you stop calling people names? I believe the government is needed to save me from people like you.
@Kath: You CANNOT possibly be that sensitive.
And are you possibly defending Hmm? Have you ever read his posts? Trust me, they’re not particularly thoughtful. And he has attacked people personally at times.
If the air quality is so poor why can we see Mt Tamalpais from Shoreline??
Another make work program from our government that need to go away.
Why don’t they focus on 2-cycle leaf blowers, diesels and oil refineries that are much worse than wood smoke. Many countries have outright banned 2-cycles.
@Roman — You can have a high level of particulate pollution without necessarily having it *directly* affect visibility. At a high enough level, though, it will make it so that you wouldn’t be able to see Mount Anything from your front porch.
As for your point about 2-cycle engines and oil refineries — fair point. Diesels? Diesel technology is getting to the point where it is significantly cleaner than it was even a decade before.
And “Another make work program from our government that need to go away”? Uh, no.