Smoke pollution in Napier has exceeded the National Environmental Standards for the first time this year.
On Saturday the city's monitoring site recorded a concentration of solid particles of smoke, at 51.9 micrograms per cubic metre. The national standard is 50.
Hastings has already exceeded the standard five times this year, with the highest concentration being 65 micrograms.
Last year it happened 18 times in the city.
Hawke's Bay Regional Council says most dirty air is caused by domestic fires.
Under the Government's new rules announced in January, the number of times the standard is exceeded has to drop to three a year by 2016 and once a year by 2020.
