Air Quality Unhealthful, No Burn In Claremont, La Verne

CLAREMONT, CA — Many people are coughing across the Southland. You only need to head to the local movie theater to notice. Though it is cold and flu season, there is something else aggravating people's lungs in the air. Fine particulate matter from wood smoke has caused air quality to drop across the region.

In an attempt to improve air quality, the South Coast Air Quality Management District released another residential no-burn alert, effective Wednesday and Thursday this week, for all living in the South Coast Air Basin. That includes all of Orange County, and the non-desert portions of Los Angeles, Riverside and San Bernardino counties.

Residents in these areas should be aware that burning wood in their fireplaces or any indoor/outdoor wood-burning device is prohibited through midnight on Thursday, they said in a recent release.

"The no-burn rule prohibits burning wood, as well as manufactured fire logs, such as those made from wax or paper," they said.

The unhealthful air quality is due to fine particulate air pollution in the region. Those minute particles come from wood smoke, and can get deep into the lungs and cause respiratory problems, including asthma attacks as well as increases in emergency room visits and hospitalizations, according to SCAQMD.

While Orange County's air quality ranged in the unhealthful category Tuesday night, by Wednesday, all of Orange County's air quality will return to moderate, albeit at the high end of the scale. The Orange County coastal areas will return to good by the end of Wednesday.

The South Coast Air Quality Management District also warned that air quality would be unhealthful Wednesday for sensitive groups in metropolitan Los Angeles and the Riverside and San Bernardino areas.

Sensitive groups includes heart patients and people suffering from asthma and other respiratory diseases. The Los Angeles County Department of Health said people who fall in that category should "minimize outdoor activities."

The department also warned schools and daycare facilities in the areas forecast to have poor air quality to be particularly attuned to the needs of children with heart disease, asthma and other chronic respiratory diseases.

They "should not participate in outdoor physical activity and should stay indoors," the statement said.

Much of L.A., Riverside and San Bernardo counties will be breathing air of moderate quality Wednesday.

The no-burn alerts do not apply to mountain communities above 3,000 feet in elevation, homes in the Coachella Valley or the High Desert, who rely on wood as a sole source of heat. Low income households and those who do not have natural gas service are also exempt.

As a reminder, gas and other non-wood burning fireplaces are not restricted at this time.

Image, courtesy Airnow.gov