The South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD) has issued a residential no-burn alert effective Monday, December 8, 2014, for all those living in the South Coast Air Basin, which includes the greater Los Angeles area, Orange County and the Inland Empire. SCAQMD reminds residents in these areas that burning wood in their fireplaces is prohibited from midnight Sunday through midnight on Monday night. No-burn alerts are mandatory in order to protect public health due to a high concentration of fine particle air pollution forecast for the area. The no-burn prohibition also applies to manufactured fire logs, such as those made from wax or paper.
Fine particles in wood smoke – also known as particulate matter or PM2.5 – can get deep into the lungs and cause respiratory illnesses, increases in emergency room visits and hospitalizations.
South Coast Basin residents can help reduce the harmful health effects of wood smoke by checking for no-burn alerts using one of the following options before burning wood:
- Sign-up to receive e-mail alerts via www.AirAlerts.org
- Visit www.aqmd.gov or www.aqmd.gov/healthyhearths/chk-before-you-burn for daily forecasts and for an interactive no-burn alert map
- Call SCAQMD’s 24-hour Check Before You Burn toll-free line at (866) 966-3293.
Photo Credit: “Cabin fireplace” by ErgoSum88 – Own work. Licensed under Public domain via Wikimedia Commons – http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cabin_fireplace.JPG#mediaviewer/File:Cabin_fireplace.JPG
If they really cared about particulates in our air you’d think they’d be concerned with the heavy concentrates on Aluminum, barium, strontium, and others that we’re all breathing as it seems to be falling from the sky – it’s in our water, soil, and now us – Have your hair and/or blood tested :~/ (it only sounds nuts until you actually look into it) 🙂