District to hold no-burn forums

Officials want feedback on estimate of 15-20 mandatory bans a year.

By Mark Grossi
The Fresno Bee

(Updated Saturday, January 11, 2003, 5:24 AM)

If you use one of the 400,000 fireplaces and other wood-burning devices in the San Joaquin Valley, don't miss the public workshop next month about mandatory no-burn days.

Officials want to talk about how many no-burn days might be expected next fall and winter, when the restrictions begin. The San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District has estimated 15 to 20 days per season, and officials want to know what residents think of that range.

But the issue now is complicated by measurement of dangerous particle pollution, which officials have this month begun to incorporate into air quality predictions. The measurement of PM2.5 -- particles 2.5 microns wide, or about 1/28 the diameter of a human hair -- will reveal more unhealthy air days than in the past.

Does that mean more no-burn days than previously estimated? Not necessarily, officials said.

"We took this measurement into consideration when we issued our estimate of 15 to 20 days in a season," said Evan Shipp, district supervising meteorologist.

But Shipp acknowledges the district will have to pick a point, based on health concerns, at which to call no-burn days.

If the Valley has a prolonged bout of fog and the particles hang around for many days, it is possible for the no-burn days to increase beyond the estimate.

"We're still exploring where the cutoff will be," Shipp said. "Can we reasonably call 10 days a year or 20 or 50? We don't know yet. That's not a scientific question -- it's more political. I think it's going to be worked out at the public workshops."

The public's reaction could mean a lot at the February meetings, for which no firm dates have been scheduled.

The district, under orders from the federal government, is honing rule changes for the mandatory no-burn days. The Valley is among the six worst air basins in the country for particle pollution.

Currently, the district merely asks people not to burn on the worst evenings.

One round of public workshops on the no-burn rule proposals took place last year. People learned that the Valley missed federal cleanup deadlines for particle pollution, which is linked to premature death, chronic bronchitis and other lung problems.

District officials also detailed exclusions to the rule, such as wood-burning residences with no other source of heating, dwellings above 3,000 feet in the foothills and units where no natural gas or propane service is available.

The proposal included a ban on wood-burning devices and fireplaces in new Valley subdivisions, unless the home is being built on a lot one acre or larger.

The one-acre exclusion is intended to allow wood burning in more open areas but eliminate it in more densely populated, future subdivisions.

Now the district hopes to discuss a level of pollution at which the no-burn days would be called. Officials say it will be connected to the Air Quality Index, or AQI, which is a health-based forecast of the air that takes into account weather and pollution measurements.

The AQI's rating system ranges from the healthiest air at zero to a lung-burning brew at 300 or above; any prediction of 150 or above is considered unhealthy. Any measurement higher than 100 is unhealthy for people with sensitive lungs.

"It's possible we'll set 150 as the trigger [for no-burn days]," Shipp said.

The PM2.5 particles, the byproduct of burning wood, vegetation or gasoline, drive the AQI higher than the larger PM10 particles, which were the previous focus of measurements.

The finer particles are considered to be more dangerous because they can more easily evade the body's defenses and lodge in the lungs.

The federal government is nationally requiring measurement of the PM2.5but is still studying the issue.

The reporter can be reached at

mgrossi@fresnobee.com or 441-6316.

ON THE WEB

For more information about Valley air, check out www.

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