Don’t light that fire: AQMD declares no-burn days

Air-quality regulators declared Thursday a no-burn day, the fourth in a row that prevents residents and visitors from using wood-burning fireplaces and stoves.

The advisory came from the South Coast Air Quality Management District. The AQMD’s territory includes Newport Beach, Corona del Mar, Costa Mesa and other area cities.

“Residents in your area are prohibited from burning wood or manufactured fire logs in indoor and outdoor residential wood-burning fireplaces and stoves due to elevated fine particulate levels forecast by the SCAQMD,” an email said.

The SCAQMD’s Check Before You Burn program is in effect each November through February.

“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 email said. “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.”

The no-burn alerts do not include beach fire pits, said Tina Cox, an AQMD spokeswoman.

“Beach fires fall under our Rule 444, and no-burn alerts for beach fire pits are called only when the coastal areas are forecast to exceed 35 micrograms per cubic meter for fine particulates,” she said in an email. “When a no-burn alert is issued for beach fire pits, charcoal is exempt so it would be allowed.”

The city of Newport Beach requires that visitors burn charcoal in fire rings rather than wood.

Residential no-burn alerts are issued for the South Coast Air Basin when the agency’s Mira Loma air monitoring station exceeds 30 micrograms per cubic meter, she said, and is part of the agency’s Rule 445.