North Bay residents are barred from using their fireplaces, fire pits or pellet stoves through Sunday due to weather conditions that will keep pollution near the ground, according to the Bay Area Air District.
The Air District extended its Spare the Air alert, first issued on Thursday, through Sunday due to temperature inversion, a weather phenomenon that creates a temperature “cap” and traps unhealthy pollutants. Winds from the east were also expected to track in some unhealthy air from the Central Valley, the district said in a news release.
As of Sunday afternoon, air quality in Sonoma and Napa counties ranged between satisfactory and unhealthy, meaning some members of the general public may experience health effects with 24 hours of exposure, according to PurpleAir. The higher concentrations of pollution were found in the southern valleys, such as Santa Rosa, Petaluma and Sonoma.
During an alert, it’s illegal for Bay Area residents to use wood-burning devices, such as fireplaces or pellet stoves. Exemptions are made for homes where that is the only heating source and that source is an EPA-certified or pellet-fueled device that is registered with the Air District.
First-time violators of these rules are instructed to take a wood smoke awareness class about how breathing in wood smoke can negatively impact health and how weather conditions factor into air quality. Those who turn down the class pay a $100 fine. Second-time offenders will face a $500 ticket, with increasing fines for each subsequent violation.
Residents are allowed to use natural gas, propane or electric fireplaces during Spare the Air Alerts.