A wood burning ban will be in place across much of Southland on Thursday

A ban on indoor and outdoor wood burning was extended for much of the Southland on Thursday as high levels of air pollution are forecast in the region.

The ban on residential wood burning was originally scheduled to expire Wednesday evening, but will now apply until at least 11:59 p.m. Thursday for the South Coast Air Basin, including non-desert portions of Los Angeles, Riverside and San Bernardino counties and all of Orange County.

According to the South Coast Air Quality Management District, the order does not apply to mountain communities above 3,000 feet, the Coachella Valley or the High Desert. Households that rely on wood as their sole source of heat, households with low incomes and households without a natural gas supply are also exempt from the requirement.