Spare What Day?

December 16, 2008

OK, I am trying to save the day and not use my furnace as much, so I get a lot of wood so I can keep warm in at least one room of my house. Then, when the spare the air day started, (which, I totally get by the way), I tried to start a fire 3 separate times, when I realized I have to have the news on, or call someone or whatever, because I don’t know if I can have a fire or not???

Well, after all this, I now subscribe to the sparetheair.org…alert, so it comes on my phone in the morning, so I am PREPARED. Since I wanted to share all this with you…here goes…

Spare the Air Program

The Winter Spare the Air season runs from November 1, 2008, through February 28, 2009. This winter, for the first time in the Bay Area, it will be illegal to burn wood, pellets, or manufactured fire logs when a Winter Spare the Air Alert is issued.

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

In the wintertime, fine particulate matter (PM2.5) becomes the pollutant with the greatest impact on air quality. Fine particulates can bypass the body’s natural defenses, penetrating deeply into the lungs and even passing into the bloodstream. Prolonged exposure to the fine particulates in wood smoke has been linked with aggravated asthma, lung and heart disease, and increased mortality rates. Wood burning in fireplaces and woodstoves creates about one-third of the winter particulate matter air pollution in the Bay Area.

When our morning forecast predicts that concentrations of PM2.5 will exceed the national health-based standard, the Air District will issue a Winter Spare the Air Alert. Winter Spare the Air Alerts will be posted on our Spare the Air home page and on the Air District’s www.baaqmd.gov home page.

Winter Spare the Air Alerts will also be recorded at
1-877-4NO-BURN (1-877-466-2876). Residents and businesses can also call this phone number to: