People in San Joaquin County had 58 days and in Stanislaus 69 days last year in which wood burning in fireplaces was banned.
Burn restrictions run from November through February and the air quality threshold has been lowered in the Central Valley which means there will be more "no burn" days.
Anthony Presto with the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District says the drought has been a major factor.
"We had a lot more days where air quality was stagnant because there were no storms to clean the air and that translates into more days that people cannot burn wood in their fireplaces and wood stoves," says Presto.
Presto says wood burning in winter is a major source of pollution and emits about 17 tons of particulate matter in the San Joaquin Valley every day. He says an iPhone app is now available to get the daily burn status.
Check ValleyAir.org for burn status in San Joaquin Valley.
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