Season’s big storms blow pollution out of Bay Area
Decline in wood-burning fireplaces helps clear air
The fierce, windy winter storms might have had a second silver lining besides ending the drought — they helped clear Bay Area skies and resulted in no “exceedances” of air pollution standards, air quality officials announced.
During the winter season, from November through February, the Bay Area Air Quality Management District issued seven Spare the Air daily warnings, but recorded not a single day in which federal air pollution standards were exceeded.
“Heavy rains helped clean harmful smoke from the air,” said Jack Broadbent, executive director of the agency.
It was the second straight winter with no exceedances of the federal pollution standard. Before that, Bay Area skies exceeded the federal standards six times in the winter of 2014-15 and 15 times in 2013-14.
Another reason for the improvement, district spokesman Ralph Borrmann said, is that homeowners are getting the message that operating their fireplaces is increasingly “perceived as an air-polluting practice” and less socially acceptable. “Public perception is changing,” he said. This year, the district issued 91 citations for illegal burning during Spare the Air alerts. Most involved warnings but several repeat violators were fined $500 or more.
In all, the district received 1,542 complaints for illegal burning in the nine Bay Area counties. Santa Clara County recorded the most,
“Heavy rains helped clean harmful smoke from the air.” Jack Broadbent, executive director of Bay Area Air Quality Management District
with 434 complaints, followed by Alameda (277), Marin (231) and Contra Costa (208).
According to the district, wood smoke from the 1.4 million Bay Area fireplaces is the largest source of winter air pollution. Wood smoke exposure has been linked to lung disease and heart attacks.
On non-Spare the Air days, fireplace users must burn dry, seasoned firewood and not burn garbage or leaves. Violators of that rule could receive tickets too, even on non-alert days.
Fireplace habits are changing, with more users choosing prefabricated logs made of sawdust or waste products from sawmills and, in some cases, used coffee grounds from instant coffee factories.
The Stockton company that makes Duraflame logs out of compressed sawdust and ground almond shells said in a statement that its product is “clean and green, burns more completely than firewood and emits 80% less fine particulate matter,” the kind measured in connection with the federal pollution standard.
“A fireplace is the centerpiece of a home, something that brings people together,” company spokeswoman Crystal Wohle said. “Burning fires is part of what people do.”
And the Indiana company that makes something called the JavaLog from spent coffee grounds said that its logs prevent 12 millions pounds of coffee grounds a year from going to landfills and are guaranteed not to keep users awake because their product “emits no caffeine when burned.”
Bay Area chimney sweeps said they had noticed a decline in fireplace use that translated into less business for them. One sweep said singling out fireplaces is unfair.
“I drive by the refineries every day and they’re polluting a lot more than any homeowner with his chimney,” said a San Leandro chimney sweep who identifies himself only by his professional name of The Chimney Doctor.
“It’s all a bunch of malarkey. The little guy at home is easy to pick on,” he said. “They ought to go after the big polluters.”
But UC Berkeley environmental science Professor Allen Goldstein said that woodburning fireplaces are “one of the major contributors” to winter air pollution and that reducing their use “has a great impact.” He also said that chimney sweeps, such as the kind found in San Leandro and in English literature, may not be entirely impartial in the matter.
“Chimney sweeps all covered with soot, while billowing clouds cover London may not be the image we’re looking for,” he said. “Hopefully, there’ll be other work for all of them to do.”