Fireplace season in the Bay Area: burn bans, chimney checks and cleaner heat

The first cold, still evening of the season does two things in the Bay Area. It makes a fire in the grate sound like the best idea of the week, and it traps smoke close to the ground under a lid of warmer air. Those are the nights fine-particle pollution builds, and the nights the Air District is most likely to ban burning. Below: how the Wood Burning Rule works since its October 2025 update, how to check before you strike a match, and what the chimney needs before the first fire.

#Check before you burn: is there a ban tonight?

1. Sign up once

   Spare the Air alerts come by text, email or phone call, and you choose which. Text STOPW to drop the winter alerts, STOPS for summer, STOP for all.

2. Or call before you light

   1-877-4NO-BURN (1-877-466-2876) gives the day's status. It is also the line for reporting wood smoke.

3. Or look it up

   Alerts are posted on sparetheair.org, the Air District's site and its social media, and many local TV and radio stations carry them.

4. Read why the alert was called

   A burn ban comes only with an alert for fine particles, the kind called on cold, still winter days and during wildfire smoke. A summer ozone alert isn't a burn ban.

5. Check each evening

   Alerts are called for specific days, so a cold, still week means checking every evening you plan a fire.

#The Wood Burning Rule, section by section

Regulation 6, Rule 3 dates from 2008. It was revised in 2015, extended to year-round bans in 2019, and amended again on October 1, 2025, when the ban threshold dropped from 35 to 25 micrograms per cubic meter. The cards below give the version in force now, in plain words, with section numbers so you can check the rule text yourself. It is general information, not legal advice.

• A Spare the Air Alert for fine particles (6-3-301)

  No burning wood or any solid fuel in a wood-burning device. A ban is declared when the forecast 24-hour PM2.5 average is expected to exceed 25 micrograms per cubic meter anywhere in the district.

• What counts as fuel (6-3-223)

  Wood and every solid fuel, manufactured and pressed logs and pellets included.

• Outdoor fire pits and bonfires (Reg. 5, 5-302)

  Recreational fires are banned during the same periods under the open burning rule. The Air District says fires for cooking are not.

• Gas logs, gas inserts, electric fireplaces (6-3-301)

  Not covered: the ban is on wood and other solid fuel.

• Your only heat is wood (6-3-110, 404, 405)

  Exempt only with a wood heater carrying EPA certification, registered with the Air District, in a home without permanently installed gas, propane or electric heat. Registration runs 5 years. An open-hearth fireplace doesn't qualify.

• A broken furnace or wall heater (6-3-111)

  Exempt for up to 30 days if it is your only permanent heat, there's no other heat, and you can document the repair.

• A gas or power outage (6-3-112)

  Exempt during a temporary utility outage if no other heat is available.

• Renting out a home (6-3-305, 6-3-110)

  A rental in an area with natural gas service needs permanently installed heat that doesn't burn solid fuel, and can't claim the sole-source exemption.

• Building new (6-3-306, 6-3-213)

  No wood-burning device of any kind in a home whose foundation went in on or after November 1, 2016.

• Remodeling a fireplace or chimney (6-3-307)

  If the work needs a building permit and costs more than $15,000, not counting the permit itself, only a gas or electric unit, or a device with EPA certification, may go in.

• Selling, renting or leasing a home (6-3-303, 6-3-304)

  Provide a disclosure on the health hazards of wood smoke, following the Air District's guidance. An installed fireplace or stove may stay with the house.

• Selling a used stove on its own (6-3-303)

  Not allowed unless it meets the federal wood heater standard.

• Smoke and fuel, any day (6-3-308, 6-3-309)

  Chimney smoke may not exceed 20% opacity for more than 3 minutes in any hour, with a 20-minute allowance when a fire is started, once every 4 hours. Never burned: garbage, treated or painted wood, unseasoned wood, pallets, plastic, glossy or colored paper, particle board, salt-water driftwood.

• Buying firewood (6-3-310)

  Wood sold for burning must be at 20% moisture or less, or be labeled unseasoned with drying instructions.

#Exempt or not: the cases people ask about

Neighbors report smoke to the same 1-877-4NO-BURN line. A first violation comes with a choice between a wood smoke awareness class, online or by mail, and a ticket; later tickets cost more. The Air District is also plain about what the rule doesn't do: it doesn't ban fireplaces outright, and it doesn't make anyone replace an existing one.

#Before the first fire: a pre-season chimney check

The national chimney standard, NFPA 211, as quoted by the Chimney Safety Institute of America, says “chimneys, fireplaces, and vents shall be inspected at least once a year for soundness, freedom from deposits, and correct clearances.” That holds whether you light forty fires a winter or two, and CSIA applies it to the flue that vents a gas furnace too, because birds nest in those. Do the parts you can see yourself and book the rest.

#Creosote and a cleaner fire

Creosote is the residue smoke leaves on a cool flue, black or brown, crusty or tar-like or glazed, and it burns. CSIA lists restricted air, unseasoned wood and a cool chimney as what builds it fastest, and advises sweeping a masonry fireplace at 1/8 inch of sooty buildup, sooner if any glaze appears. A chimney fire can reach around 2000°F, hot enough to crack tiles and displace mortar, and the slow ones often go unnoticed until the next inspection.

• Heard this?Burn bans only happen from November to February.Tap for the factsWhat's trueThat was the rule from 2008. Since the 2019 amendments, a ban can be called on any day of the year when fine-particle pollution is forecast high, wildfire smoke included.
• Heard this?Store-bought fire logs are fine on a ban day.Tap for the factsWhat's trueManufactured and pressed logs count as solid fuel under the rule, as do pellets. They're banned along with firewood.
• Heard this?A chimney-cleaning log does the sweep's job.Tap for the factsWhat's trueCSIA says chemical cleaners are no substitute for mechanical sweeping and an inspection. Whatever they loosen still has to come out of the smoke shelf and flue.
• Heard this?A gas fireplace's chimney needs no attention.Tap for the factsWhat's trueCSIA recommends a yearly inspection for gas-vented chimneys too, since nests and debris can block a flue that never sees a log.
• Heard this?If the air on my street is clear, I can burn.Tap for the factsWhat's trueA ban covers the whole district when the forecast for any part of it crosses the line.
• Heard this?Repointing the brick makes an old chimney quake-safe.Tap for the factsWhat's trueFEMA calls repointing good maintenance that does little to reduce future earthquake damage.

#Cleaner heat if you're done with wood smoke

The rule never makes you tear out a fireplace. It does decide what can go in when you change one, and it shapes how often you'll get to use what's there. Three directions, with what each involves:

• A gas insert or gas logs. Usable on ban days, since the ban is on solid fuel. The gas line is C-36 plumbing work, a class that covers gas appliances, flues and gas connections; the plumbing page covers gas piping.
• A wood stove or insert with EPA certification. Since May 15, 2020, a new wood heater must meet the federal limit of 2.0 grams of smoke per hour in the cordwood test, and EPA says most stoves now in homes lack its certification. A factory-built fireplace needs an insert designed and tested for that unit. Even a stove with certification can't be used on a ban day unless it's registered as your only heat.
• Electric. An electric fireplace or a heat pump sidesteps both burn bans and chimney sweeps; heating the whole house with a heat pump is a job for an HVAC contractor.

#The chimney and the next earthquake

FEMA's advisory after the 2014 South Napa earthquake calls masonry chimneys in wood-frame houses extremely vulnerable to shaking; its teams counted more than 100 damaged brick chimneys. Old unreinforced chimneys with tired mortar fare worst, and FEMA considers bringing them up to modern seismic performance generally infeasible. Its recommended fixes remove some or all of the brick and rebuild with a metal flue or an insert in a light frame, and it notes the work always needs a building permit.

That is where the two halves of this guide meet. A permitted chimney rebuild that costs more than $15,000 can't end in a new open wood fire under Rule 6-3; it has to be gas, electric or a device with EPA certification. Until the work is done, FEMA suggests not sleeping next to an old chimney and fitting plywood in the attic to slow falling brick. Have the flue inspected before the first fire after any strong shaking, and see the earthquake guide for the rest of the house.