No Burn Alert Issued For Saturday Due To High Air Pollution Forecast
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) — Residents in the South Coast Air Quality Management District are prohibited from burning wood indoors and outdoors on Saturday due to a forecast of high air pollution in the area.
The No Burn Alert is in effect through 11:59 p.m. Saturday in the South Coast Air Basin which includes Orange County and the non-desert portions of Los Angeles, Riverside and San Bernardino counties.
"South Coast AQMD reminds residents in these areas that burning wood in their fireplaces or any indoor or outdoor wood-burning device is prohibited during the mandatory wood-burning ban," the AQMD noted in a statement. "The no-burn rule prohibits burning wood as well as manufactured fire logs, such as those made from wax or paper."
The wood-burning ban does not apply to mountain communities above 3,000 feet elevation, the Coachella Valley or the High Desert or to homes that rely on wood as a sole source of heat, low-income households and those without natural gas service.
The restriction also does not apply to gas and other non-wood burning fireplaces.
Penalties for violating a wood-burning ban are completion of a wood smoke awareness course or $50 the first time, $150 or proof of installing a gas fireplace the second time and $500 the third time, according to AQMD Rule 445.
(© Copyright 2020 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. City News Service contributed to this report.)