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20th Spare-The-Air Alert Of Season Issued For Friday

SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) -- More air will be spared on Friday, as a series of "Winter Spare the Air" alerts issued by the Bay Area Air Quality Management District continues.

District officials announced today that wood burning will be banned in the Bay Area on Friday for the fifth day in a row and the 20th day this season.

Jack Broadbent, executive officer of the air district, thanked the public for observing the restrictions and acknowledged that there have been a lot of wood-burning bans lately.

"We continue to see stagnant, pollution-trapping weather conditions and unhealthy levels of air pollution in the region, prompting another Winter Spare the Air alert," he said.

On such days, residents are not allowed to burn wood, manufactured fire logs or any other solid fuel indoors or outdoors, unless they live in a home where woodstoves or fireplaces are the sole source of heat.

Those who violate the ban for the first time will have to pay $100 or take a wood-smoke awareness class; subsequent violations will be punished with a fine of $500 or more.

The idea of Spare the Air days is to keep the air as clean as possible on days when high levels of unhealthy particulate matter have accumulated close to the ground.

Winter Spare the Air season runs from Nov. 1 through Feb. 28.

Bay Area residents can check the daily burn status by calling (877) 4-NO-BURN or visiting the district's website at www.sparetheair.org

Copyright 2013 by CBS San Francisco and Bay City News Service. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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