'Spare the Air Day' declared

Friday was declared a Spare the Air Day around the Bay Area, meaning indoor and outdoor wood fires are banned through noon Saturday.

Sonoma County and other North Bay counties are expected to have particularly unhealthy air for those with respiratory disease and other conditions that make them especially sensitive to poor air quality, or even those who are particularly active, the Bay Area Air Quality District said.

This is the ninth Spare the Air Day this winter season, a time when burning wood, pressed logs or pellets contribute large quantities of particulate matter to the air, causing about one-third of the particulate pollution on a typical winter night, the air district said.

This is the first year it has been illegal to burn such fuels on Winter Spare the Air days.