How do Napans know when there is a Spare the Air Day when they can’t use their fireplaces?

Easy — when they hear the siren coming up their street! Silly me, I thought it was a riddle — or a knock-knock joke. Allow me to use my serious side.

According to www.sparetheair.org, the winter Spare the Air season is from Nov. 1 through Feb. 28. This is the first year when it is illegal to burn wood, pellets and manufactured fire logs during a Winter Spare the Air alert.

Why? Because we’re Californians and we’re generally environmentally conscientious. Perhaps that’s speculation, but it makes us sound like good people, eh?

So much for my serious side.

Burning wood in fireplaces and wood stoves creates about a third of winter particulate matter air pollution in the Bay Area, which has the greatest impact on air quality. If one is exposed to these pollutants long enough, there can be serious effects on one’s health and respiratory system, including asthma, lung disease and worse. So, when this fine particulate matter, what the Air District calls PM2.5, exceeds the national health-based standard, the district issues an Air Alert to discourage people from burning wood in their fireplaces or wood stoves. The health-based standard is broken down to measure several types of pollutants one by one, such as carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide and so on.

The district’s Web site is updated daily by noon and gives an easy-to-read status on the left-hand side of the page. Great example of how the Internet is our friend. The printer and I, however, are going through a rough patch.

To find out if it’s a Spare the Air day, people can visit the Web site, sign up or call for e-mail or phone alerts.

The site has a simple link allowing users to click on it and subscribe for e-mail, cell phone or pager alerts.

For those who don’t prefer the Internet as a means of notification on these alerts, call 1-800-430-1515 to subscribe for automatic phone call notification.

Yet another option is calling 1-877-4NO-BURN (1-877-466-2876). This number has recorded Air Alerts and can also be used to report wood smoke concerns in your area.

What is Glad You Asked?

Glad You Asked attempts to answer readers’ questions. Wood you like to find some answers? Send your questions to me at dmontanez@napanews.com or call 256-2224.