'Winter Spare the Air' is Now Underway

The 2013/2014 Winter Spare the Air season began Nov. 1 and runs through Feb. 28.

Each day by early afternoon, the Air District will issue an air quality forecast for the next day. If air quality is forecast to be unhealthy, a Winter Spare the Air Alert will be called. The alert will be in effect the entire next day, for a full 24 hours.

In the wintertime, particulate matter — especially particulate matter 2.5 microns or smaller in size, also known as PM2.5 — can become a serious problem in the region. To protect public health, the Air District will issue a Winter Spare the Air Alert when PM2.5 concentrations are expected to be unhealthy.

From Nov. 1 through the end of February, under the Air District's wood-burning regulation, when a Winter Spare the Air Alert has been called, burning wood, firelogs, pellets, or any other solid fuels in your fireplace, woodstove, or other wood-burning device is illegal. 

When wood burning is allowed, residents who do burn in a fireplace or outdoor fire pit must still burn cleanly using dry, seasoned firewood, and not burn garbage, leaves or other material that would cause excessive smoke. Residents who exceed the excess visible smoke provision in the wood-burning rule could still be subject to a ticket.

Follow these links for more information on the Air District's wood-burning regulation, and instructions on how to comply.

You can also file a wood smoke complaint online.

To find out if a Winter Spare the Air Alert is in effect, residents and business owners can do the following:

• Call 1-877-4NO-BURN (1-877-466-2876)
• Sign up for automatic phone alerts by calling 1-800-430-1515
• Sign up to receive email AirAlerts
• Download the Spare the Air App for iPhone or Android
• Download the Spare the Air widget to your website
• Connect with Spare the Air on Facebook, Twitter, or Google+