The board of directors at the Bay Area Air District voted Wednesday to lower the criteria to declare Spare the Air alerts.
A press release from the air district stated that alerts will be issued when a daily forecast for fine particulate matter reaches 25 micrograms per cubic meter, down from the previous threshold of 35 micrograms, potentially creating more frequent alerts in the future when wood smoke is detected.
Particulate matter is defined as tiny particles in the air that people could breathe into their lungs and potentially have adverse health effects. Matter can originate from a variety of man-made and natural sources, such as fossil fuel combustion, wood burning, and dust.
Previous years have averaged 15 Spare the Air alerts, but the air district said the lower threshold could mean more than twice that number of alerts may be called as a result.
“Cleaner air benefits every Bay Area resident,” said Philip Fine, executive officer of the air district, in a written statement. “With more protective standards in place, our communities will be healthier, and together we can reduce the pollution that harms our families and neighborhoods.”
According to the agency, residential word burning is the largest source of particulate matter in the Bay Area during the winter and can potentially have the most adverse health impacts.
The new threshold for Spare the Air alerts will help to mitigate the amount of wood smoke from either residential or natural sources.
The air district stated the new criteria will facilitate more prescribed burns by alerting the public of air quality issues and prioritizing their health.
Cal Fire’s prescribed fire database shows over 163 burns have been conducted across California for the 2025-2026 fiscal year.
“Prescribed burns reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfires, which produce far more smoke and cause greater harm to our communities,” said air district board chair Lynda Hopkins. “By supporting beneficial fire while maintaining strict safeguards for air quality, we are protecting both public health and the environment.”
While it is illegal for the public to use their fireplaces or any other wood-burning apparatus during a Spare the Air alert, exemptions are available for residences without permanently installed heating. However, certain criteria must still be followed.
For more information about Spare the Air Alerts, members of the public can visit sparetheair.org or sign up for text alerts by texting “START” to 817-57.
Awesome! (sarcasm) won’t be able to fart outside without a fine.
Bring your dog so you have somebody else to blame…
Is someone trying to make their job more noticeable? 35 to 25 …
Guess I will be breaking the rules more often by havinug my wood burning fireplace
Hmmmm……..lemeesee………I wonder if the nice folks over there at the Air Breathing Shop are casting another one of those scary stories so they can justify those sweet cushy “positions” (not jobs) they enjoy at taxpayer’s expense.
Naw…..I gotta be wrong. They wouldn’t try that stuff in my home state of Loonafornia.
Yeah…. just forget I said anything.
Well, of course! The big news would be if they decided to raise the threshold.
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Their goal is to eliminate wood burning stoves. Then people will be completely dependent on PG@E. Each additional no-burn day translates into more money for the utility.
Just another(of the countless ) self important feckless California tax drain bureaucracy.
Number one, we all know they have to stay in the news so they can justify their jobs. As far as the amount of smoke in the air, we breath more smoke particulates in one summer fire season than we do in ten years of winter smoke from fireplaces. This is another example of liberal government over reach and control. Drive around your neighborhood on a cold winter night and count the number of fireplaces being used. I think you will find there are very very few if any. We need to take the power away from the Air resource Board and stop them from taking away our freedoms and to stay out of our private lives .
What a bunch of cxxp …… it’s no more quantitative than the man in the moon …. it’s subjective – or maybe they pick where they want to check the air when they want to do something … one wildfire puts more particulates in the air than we can with our few fireplace fires these days .. and there are far fewer fireplace fires now days than 20-30 yrs ago…. somebody must be up for relection or something
These BAAQMD “Air Nazis” are just another agency of government sanctioned terrorists!!!
I vote to remove the Board and dissolve the BAQD.
How about the BAAQD & Firefighters giving us reminders when a wildfire is extinguished and the severity was largely reduced due to wide usage of prescribed burns that were done early on?
Tell us how well preventive maintenance (clearing deadwood and brush) helped to slow down the flames.
Post some photos, show us examples that demonstrate the effectiveness of all the effort & money taxpayers doled out.
Better do something substantial because all we see are PG&E power lines causing infernos that leave towns reduced to ashes and the BAAQD wasting everybody’s time fussing over barbecues, wood in the fireplace and a small number of OLD classic cars that don’t need smog checks!
$300+ million per year for these idiots.