Updated: Sunday, Monday are Spare the Air Days

Bay City News Service--Weather conditions forecast for Sunday and Monday, Dec. 18 and 19, were expected to create unhealthy air quality in the Bay Area, prompting a local agency to proclaim season's sixth Winter Spare the Air Day.

The Bay Area Air Quality Management District announced today that wood burning, both indoors and outdoors, will be illegal all day on both days.

District officials said that the cold, still weather patterns returning to the Bay Area traps pollution close to the ground under a layer of warmer air.

During winter months, wood smoke is the leading cause of wintertime air pollution in the Bay Area, according to district officials. Wood smoke contains harmful pollutants, such as soot and carbon monoxide, and toxins such as dioxin, which has been linked to increased cancer rates in adults.

About one-third of the harmful soot in the winter air can be attributed to wood smoke from the roughly 1.4 million fireplaces and wood stoves in the Bay Area, according to the district.

More information about the ban can be found at www.sparetheair.org or by calling (877) 4NO-BURN (466-2876).

Those wishing to receive automatic phone calls when a Winter Spare the Air alert is issued can register for the alerts by calling (800) 430-1515.

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