Pollution Prompts Mandatory No Burn Alert in Woodland Hills, Again

The year may be young, but Los Angeles County is already an old hand at mandatory no-burn alerts. Pollution has forced several no-burn alerts this already month.

And now a growing inversion layer has clamped down on the Southland again today, prompting a residential no-burn alert to be put into be in effect in the South Coast Air Basin for Sunday.

The no-burn order includes the greater Los Angeles area, Orange County and the Inland Empire. Under the alert from the South Coast Air Quality Management District, residents are barred from burning wood in fireplaces throughout the day.

“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,” according to an SCAQMD statement. “The no-burn prohibition also applies to manufactured fire logs, such as those made from wax or paper.”

The prohibition does not apply to mountain communities above 3,000 feet, the Coachella Valley or the high desert, or to people who have no other source of residential heating.

• City News Service
• Photo Credit: Wikipedia Commons