FRAZIER PARK, Calif. -- Residents are breathing a bit easier these days in the Mountain Communities, as many of the restrictions on fireplace use won't be needed, air quality officials told ABC 23 Wednesday.

Data collected from Frazier Park shows the air pollution is substantially lower than the threshold to call a no-burn day, meaning residents will be able to burn cleanly throughout the winter months.

"I'm so happy we're not adding much to the problem," Chuck Woerner, a Frazier Park resident, said.

This comes a year after many of the Mountain Communities were subject to the same burning rules as the valley portion of Kern County. That prompted Woerner to start a petition urging air quality officials to reconsider.

1,800 signatures and several meetings later, Frazier Mountain was designated as its own forecast area for air quality, and a temporary air quality monitor was installed at Supervisor Ray Watson's office in January.

With the threshold to call a no-burn day at 30 microns of PM 2.5, Frazier Park's highest reading last winter was only eight microns. It averaged just three microns of PM 2.5, a pollutant that affects respiratory health.

The data is enough for air quality officials to extrapolate that the air is good enough to avoid the no-burn restrictions, barring a major event, according to Brenda Turner of the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District.

The north-south wind patterns that plague the Valley with bad air are a far cry from the east-west pattern that takes hold in Frazier Park, Lake of the Woods, Cuddy Valley and Pinon Pines, she said.

The air district says it is also working with Tejon Ranch to install a permanent air monitor on the ranch near Lebec. Even though the monitor will likely pick up much of the pollution from vehicle traffic on Interstate 5, it will be a better indicator of the air quality on Frazier Mountain rather than using data from Bakersfield, Turner said.