Health Quality Management

Bay Area residents, who drove less in summer to Spare the Air, will be asked for the first time this winter to give up wood fires in stoves and fireplaces to limit smoke on dirty air nights.
Stricter new health standards to protect the public from soot have allowed pollution regulators to ask for voluntary limits on wood fires on dirty nights. The winter pollution season begins Monday and extends through Feb. 16.

“Our message is not to burn wood. It’s one of the easiest choices people can make to have a healthy community,” said Karen Schkolnick, spokeswoman for the nine-county Bay Area Air Quality Management District.