Air So Bad Schools Are Staying Indoors for Recess

Campbell Union School District students were kept inside Tuesday, as if it were raining, because the air was so bad.

Here's the message posted on its Facebook page: "Due to the poor air quality, the district has decided to follow a 'Rainy Day' schedule and is keeping students indoors."

Part of the problem is from big fires in Big Sur and Redwood City. The Redwood City fire at a recycling plant has been called "suspicious."

Wednesday will be the 11th Spare the Air Day.

Here are details: 

The Bay Area Air Quality Management District is issuing the season’s fifteenth Winter Spare the Air Alert for Wednesday, December 18, which bans the burning of wood, manufactured fire logs or any other solid fuel both indoors and outdoors for 24 hours.

The Air District is calling an unprecedented eleventh straight Winter Spare the Air Alert as the result of the prolonged dry and stagnant weather pattern that continues to prevail across the Bay Area. Hazardous fine particulate pollution has been building up in the region for over a week and is forecast once again to reach unhealthy levels on Wednesday. A temporary weakening of the weather system is expected to start late Wednesday with increasing winds which will help reduce pollution levels for the next couple of days. However, winds are not expected to reduce air pollution below unhealthy levels for the entire Bay Area region until Thursday.

This weather system is also affecting air quality in Sacramento and the Central Valley, triggering wood-burning bans in those regions as well. Today’s fire at the Sim’s recycling facility in Redwood City likely contributed to already elevated levels of air pollution throughout the Bay Area.

“Another day of unhealthy air quality is expected before the weather system that has trapped smoke close to the ground weakens and allows some of the air pollution that has blanketed the Bay Area to disperse,” said Jack Broadbent, executive officer of the Air District. “We’d like to thank the public for their efforts during this unprecedented string of Winter Spare the Air Alerts. These efforts have helped to lower air pollution levels and reduce health impacts from wood smoke.” 

It is illegal for Bay Area residents and businesses to use their fireplaces, woodstoves, pellet stoves, outdoor fire pits or any other wood-burning devices during a Winter Spare the Air Alert. Homes without permanently installed heating, where woodstoves or fireplaces are the only source of heat, are exempt.

Like cigarette smoke, wood smoke contains fine particles and carcinogenic substances that make the air harmful to breathe.  Wood smoke is the major source of air pollution in the Bay Area in the wintertime and is especially harmful to children, the elderly, and people with respiratory conditions.

First-time violators will be given the option of taking a wood smoke awareness class, online or by mail, to learn about the hazards of wood smoke pollution in lieu of paying a $100 ticket. Second violations will result in a $500 ticket, and subsequent ticket amounts will be higher.

The public must check before they burn during the Winter Spare the Air season, which runs from November 1 through February 28. The daily burn status can be found:

• On the Air District Web sites: www.baaqmd.gov or www.sparetheair.org
• Via the toll-free hotline 1-877-4-NO-BURN (complaints can also be filed via the hotline)
• By signing up for AirAlerts at www.sparetheair.org or phone alerts at 1-800-430-1515
• Via the Spare the Air iPhone and Android Apps

In the winter, wood smoke from the 1.4 million fireplaces and wood stoves in the Bay Area is the single largest source of air pollution, contributing about one-third of the harmful fine particulate pollution in the air. Exposure to wood smoke—like cigarette smoke—has been linked to serious respiratory illnesses and even increased risk of heart attacks. Breathing fine particles accounts for more than 90 percent of premature deaths related to air pollution.

The Bay Area Air Quality Management District (www.baaqmd.gov) is the regional agency responsible for protecting air quality in the nine-county Bay Area.