The Bay Area Air Quality Management District asks Bay Area residents to refrain from burning wood in their fireplaces or woodstoves over the Christmas holiday to keep air quality from becoming unhealthy.
The district said that gathering around a fireplace may be a Christmas tradition for many, but there are serious health impacts associated with wood burning.
Without additional wood burning activity, air quality is expected to be in the moderate range throughout the Bay Area on Monday.
However, wood burning during the Christmas holiday can significantly impact localized areas and neighborhoods. Wood burning can also significantly impact indoor air quality. A Spare the Air Alert is not in effect and wood burning is not illegal. However, wood burning is strongly discouraged at this time.
The district said decorative wrapping paper is manufactured using synthetic inks, plastic film, metallic finishes and other chemicals which release toxic and carcinogenic compounds into the air when burned. The smoke is released into your home and neighborhood where family and friends will breathe it in. It is always illegal to burn wrapping paper, trash and scrap wood.
Like cigarette smoke, wood smoke contains carcinogenic substances such as particulate matter, benzene and formaldehyde, which are harmful when inhaled. Wood smoke is the major source of air pollution in the Bay Area in the wintertime and is especially harmful to children, the elderly and people with respiratory conditions.
85-90 % of the wintertime Pm 2.5 comes from sources other than people heating their homes with wood!
So what that means is that if you have no wood fires you would still have STAD’s and PM 2.5!
You’re a little late on that advisorly. My fireplace has been going since 9 am.
But nice try!!
I feel better now. It’s a Christmas tradition.
Humbug!
What about the unhealthiness of the residents? You’re worried about the outside air which people are trying to stay warm in the awful non-California like weather. It’s like Iowa. People are trying to save some money from evil PG&E mismanagement brought by the goofballs in the White House and their war of profit. Time to speak up but the air district will respond like robots.
I burned all day today and will do so again tomorrow. I burn high quality wood with minimal smoke output. The BBQ was awesome, and tomorrow’s should be better!
As for Indoor air quality … if yours is getting bad because you are burning a fire, you are doing it wrong. Smoke should go out the chimney, not out of the fireplace into your house. But the Air Quality dictators know that and are just trying to scare us —— well, I am not scared, I am informed.
It’s amazing how this “advisory “ comes out every year at this time.
Meanwhile, Oakland homeless encampments under 880 and stolen cars used in sideshows are free to burn.
BAAQMD just got the geography wrong. They should be announcing this to the volcanos erupting around the world, not just to people using their fireplaces in the San Francisco Bay Area during the holidays.
.. beat me to it Rundog…. volcanoes, untold number of fires , coal plants still being built in China and India, etc etc ….more than offset the “green” we’re doing and the intelligent fireplace burning …another way Newsum keeps his cohorts employed at AQMB