Thirty seven people called the Bay Area Air Quality Management District’s hotline to report illicit wafts of smoke, but according to the District, only 6 to 9 letters of warning about possible future fines will be sent out.

Wood smoke is a major source of air pollution during winter, contributing about one-third of the harmful fine particulate pollution in Bay Area air, said air district executive officer Jack Broadbent said.

KCBS’ Holly Quan reports

District spokeswoman Lisa Fasano says that the goal of the spare the air ban is to reduce the number of “bad particles” that come from smoke, so anything that you burn in your fireplace, fire pit or wood stove is bad on Spare the Air night.

“There are some greener products out there that some folks claim burn less, or they smoke less, or they have less toxic off-gassing, but they put out smoke and even a little smoke is not what we want when we call a winter spare the air alert.”

With the winter "Spare the Air" alert in effect, anyone who burns wood will receive a written warning for a first violation and fines for a second violation. The fines range from several hundred to several thousand dollars.

Officials are hoping for voluntary compliance, but still sent out about 70 inspectors Wednesday night to check for smoke coming from chimneys.

At the San Francisco South City Lowes Home Improvement store, Paul Ferguson of San Mateo was looking at holiday decorations, remembering how a cozy fire used to be one of the first signs of the season.

“I guess everyone’s trying to be green and do what’s proper. …I don’t miss the smoky haze but I miss that smell of a nice, fresh burning fire. It’s kind of like, what you do in the winter, you light a fire to keep warm, but I guess that’s not what you do anymore.”

More information on winter Spare the Air days can be found at the district's Web site at www.sparetheair.org

(cfu)