Residential No-Burn Area Includes Pass Residents Below 3,000 Feet

Residents living below 3,000 feet in the San Gorgonio Pass are not permitted to burn wood in their fireplaces today, New Year's Eve, according to the South Coast Air Quality Management District.

The residential no-burn alert was issued because of elevated fine particulate levels predicted by district forecasters.

Residents in no-burn areas are prohibited Dec. 31 "from burning wood or manufactured fire logs in their fireplaces from midnight tonight to midnight on Tuesday," district officials said.

The district's no-burn alerts do not apply to mountain communities above 3,000 feet in elevation. Homes that rely on wood as a sole source of heat, low-income households and those without natural gas service also are exempt from the requirement, district officials said.

Some Pass area residents questioned the need for the district's last no-burn alerts earlier this month.

Violators could be required to pay a first-time fine of $50 or complete a "smoke awareness class" online, SCAQMD spokesman Sam Atwood said Tuesday in a phone interview.

"We hope people comply voluntarily but if we get complaints we will follow up and investigate," Atwood said. "When we do investigate we're not going to contact any residents or knock on any doors."

A district inspector would have to witness smoke from a chimney firsthand to issue a violation, Atwood said.

Here's more from the district for those who live near or in no-burn areas:

On a no-burn day, residents can enter their ZIP code at www.aqmd.gov to see if they live in an affected area.  They can also sign up for daily reports on air quality and Check Before You Burn alerts at www.airalerts.org or call SCAQMD's 24-hour Check Before You Burn toll-free line at (866) 966-3293.

SCAQMD's Check Before You Burn program, in effect each winter from Nov. 1 to the end of February, is designed to protect public health by minimizing harmful wood smoke from residential wood burning. No-burn alerts are called when air quality is forecast to be elevated due to fine particulate levels (PM2.5). Wood smoke contains hundreds of contaminants including PM2.5, a pollutant linked to increased emergency room visits and hospitalizations, as well as increased risk of heart attacks and early deaths.

For further information on Check Before You Burn and alternatives to wood burning, see www.healthyhearths.org.

SCAQMD is the air pollution control agency for major portions of Riverside, San Bernardino and L.A. counties, and  Orange County.