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LA Air Quality Alert: Wood Burning Banned Until Friday
18 Dec, 2025
Summary
- No-burn alert issued for much of Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, and San Bernardino counties.
- The ban prohibits burning wood, pellets, and manufactured logs, with limited charcoal exceptions.
- Exemptions apply to homes solely reliant on wood heat or without natural gas service.
Much of Southern California, including Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, and San Bernardino counties, is currently under a no-burn alert that extends until midnight on Friday, December 20, 2025. This advisory, initially set to expire earlier, bans the burning of wood, pellets, and manufactured fire logs, both inside and outside homes. The use of charcoal is also prohibited, except for in cooking devices.
The South Coast Air Quality Management District (AQMD) issues these alerts to safeguard public health when fine particle pollution or ozone levels are predicted to be high. Smoke particles can penetrate deeply into the lungs, triggering health issues like asthma attacks and increasing the need for emergency medical care.
Exceptions to the ban are in place for residences that rely on wood as their sole source of heat or lack natural gas service. Temporary outages of electrical or gas service also permit wood burning. The AQMD has issued 14 such alerts for the 2025-2026 season, with the program typically running from September through April for ozone and November through February for fine particle pollution.
