OLYMPIA – Burn bans will continue until at least Friday (Dec. 9, 2011) in five Eastern Washington counties where stagnant air continues to trap harmful smoke, according to the Washington Department of Ecology (Ecology).

Ecology’s Stage 1 burn bans for Chelan, Douglas, Okanogan, Ferry, and Stevens counties will continue until at least 10 a.m. Friday, when they could be called off or extended. The Stage 1 bans apply to unnecessary use of uncertified wood-burning devices (including wood stoves, inserts and fireplaces) and to all outdoor burning. The bans originally were scheduled to possibly expire on Tuesday.

Ecology’s burn bans do not apply to tribal lands, where the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has jurisdiction.

Smoke from outdoor burning and wood-burning devices builds up where cold air is trapped near the ground. Fine particles in smoke are so small they can easily get into your lungs. Once there, they can cause heart and breathing problems, and even death. Children, people with asthma and respiratory illnesses, and adults older than 65 are most at risk.

Under a Stage 1 ban:

• Use of uncertified wood-burning devices – including fireplaces, wood stoves and inserts – is prohibited unless they are a home’s only source of heat.

• All outdoor burning – including residential, agricultural and forest burning – is prohibited.

• Use of certified wood-burning devices and pellet stoves is allowed. Ecology recommends burning hot fires using only clean, dry wood.

• No excessive smoke is allowed from any wood-burning device beyond a 20-minute start-up.

• Burn ban violators are subject to civil penalties.

A 2009 Ecology analysis estimates that fine particles contribute to about 1,100 deaths and millions of dollars in health-care costs each year in Washington. (http://www.ecy.wa.gov/biblio/0902021.html)

For updates, check local media reports, Ecology’s daily burn decision hotline (1-800-406-5322) and Ecology’s website. (www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/air/outdoor_woodsmoke/burn_ban.htm) You also can check www.waburnbans.net.

The Washington State Department of Health recommends that people who are sensitive to air pollution limit time spent outdoors, especially when exercising. Air pollution can trigger asthma attacks, cause difficulty breathing, and make lung and heart problems worse. Air pollution is especially harmful to people with lung and heart problems, people with diabetes, children, and older adults (over age 65).

Ecology recommends that people limit vehicle trips, combine errands or use public transportation to reduce air pollution.

You can track air quality in your area by using the Washington Air Quality Advisory (WAQA). This is Ecology’s tool for informing people about the health effects of air pollution, including fine particles. It uses color-coded categories to show when air quality is good, moderate or unhealthy. (https://fortress.wa.gov/ecy/enviwa/Default.htm)

For more information about WAQA, see this Ecology focus sheet. (http://www.ecy.wa.gov/pubs/0802022.pdf)

###

Media Contact: Seth Preston, Ecology communications manager, 360-407-6848; 360-584-5744 cell; seth.preston@ecy.wa.gov

See a list of certified wood stoves and other information (http://www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/air/indoor_woodsmoke/wood_smoke_page.htm)

Tips on getting the most heat from your firewood
(http://burndryfirewood.com/)

Department of Ecology News Release – December 2, 2011

11-339

Burn bans start Saturday in five Eastern Washington counties

OLYMPIA – Burn bans will start Saturday (Dec. 3, 2011) in five Eastern Washington counties to protect residents from worsening air quality, according to the Washington Department of Ecology (Ecology).

Ecology’s Stage 1 burn bans for Chelan, Douglas, Okanogan, Ferry, and Stevens counties takes effect at noon Saturday and will continue until at least 10 a.m. Tuesday (Dec. 6). The bans could be called off or extended at that time. The Stage 1 ban applies to unnecessary use of uncertified wood-burning devices (including wood stoves, inserts and fireplaces) and to all outdoor burning.

This means that any burning – in homes or outdoors – that starts before noon Saturday must be extinguished at the time the bans begin.

Smoke from outdoor burning and wood-burning devices builds up where cold air is trapped near the ground. Fine particles in smoke are so small they can easily get into your lungs. Once there, they can cause heart and breathing problems, and even death. Children, people with asthma and respiratory illnesses, and adults older than 65 are most at risk.

Under a Stage 1 ban:

• Use of uncertified wood-burning devices – including fireplaces, wood stoves and inserts – is prohibited unless they are a home’s only source of heat.
• All outdoor burning – including residential, agricultural and forest burning – is prohibited.
• Use of certified wood-burning devices and pellet stoves is allowed. Ecology recommends burning hot fires using only clean, dry wood.
• No excessive smoke is allowed from any wood-burning device beyond a 20-minute start-up.
• Burn ban violators are subject to civil penalties.

A 2009 Ecology analysis estimates that fine particles contribute to about 1,100 deaths and millions of dollars in health-care costs each year in Washington.

For updates, check local media reports, Ecology’s daily burn decision hotline (1-800-406-5322) and Ecology’s website. You also can check www.waburnbans.net.

The Washington State Department of Health recommends that people who are sensitive to air pollution limit time spent outdoors, especially when exercising. Air pollution can trigger asthma attacks, cause difficulty breathing, and make lung and heart problems worse. Air pollution is especially harmful to people with lung and heart problems, people with diabetes, children, and older adults (over age 65).

Ecology recommends that people limit vehicle trips, combine errands or use public transportation to reduce air pollution.

You can track air quality in your area by using the Washington Air Quality Advisory (WAQA). This is Ecology’s tool for informing people about the health effects of air pollution, including fine particles. It uses color-coded categories to show when air quality is good, moderate or unhealthy.

See this Ecology focus sheet for more information about WAQA.

###

Media Contact: Seth Preston, Ecology communications manager, 360-407-6848; 360-584-5744 cell; seth.preston@ecy.wa.gov

For more information:

List of certified wood stoves and other information (www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/air/indoor_woodsmoke/wood_smoke_page.htm)

Tips on getting the most heat from your firewood (http://burndryfirewood.com/)

OLYMPIA – Burn bans will start Saturday (Dec. 3, 2011) in five Eastern Washington counties to protect residents from worsening air quality, according to the Washington Department of Ecology (Ecology).

Ecology’s Stage 1 burn bans for Chelan, Douglas, Okanogan, Ferry, and Stevens counties takes effect at noon Saturday and will continue until at least 10 a.m. Tuesday (Dec. 6). The bans could be called off or extended at that time. The Stage 1 ban applies to unnecessary use of uncertified wood-burning devices (including wood stoves, inserts and fireplaces) and to all outdoor burning.

This means that any burning – in homes or outdoors – that starts before noon Saturday must be extinguished at the time the bans begin.

Smoke from outdoor burning and wood-burning devices builds up where cold air is trapped near the ground. Fine particles in smoke are so small they can easily get into your lungs. Once there, they can cause heart and breathing problems, and even death. Children, people with asthma and respiratory illnesses, and adults older than 65 are most at risk.

Under a Stage 1 ban:

• Use of uncertified wood-burning devices – including fireplaces, wood stoves and inserts – is prohibited unless they are a home’s only source of heat.

• All outdoor burning – including residential, agricultural and forest burning – is prohibited.

• Use of certified wood-burning devices and pellet stoves is allowed. Ecology recommends burning hot fires using only clean, dry wood.

• No excessive smoke is allowed from any wood-burning device beyond a 20-minute start-up.

• Burn ban violators are subject to civil penalties.

A 2009 Ecology analysis estimates that fine particles contribute to about 1,100 deaths and millions of dollars in health-care costs each year in Washington. (http://www.ecy.wa.gov/biblio/0902021.html)

For updates, check local media reports, Ecology’s daily burn decision hotline (1-800-406-5322) and Ecology’s website. (www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/air/outdoor_woodsmoke/burn_ban.htm) You also can check www.waburnbans.net.

The Washington State Department of Health recommends that people who are sensitive to air pollution limit time spent outdoors, especially when exercising. Air pollution can trigger asthma attacks, cause difficulty breathing, and make lung and heart problems worse. Air pollution is especially harmful to people with lung and heart problems, people with diabetes, children, and older adults (over age 65).

Ecology recommends that people limit vehicle trips, combine errands or use public transportation to reduce air pollution.

You can track air quality in your area by using the Washington Air Quality Advisory (WAQA). This is Ecology’s tool for informing people about the health effects of air pollution, including fine particles. It uses color-coded categories to show when air quality is good, moderate or unhealthy. (https://fortress.wa.gov/ecy/enviwa/Default.htm)

For more information about WAQA, see this Ecology focus sheet. (http://www.ecy.wa.gov/pubs/0802022.pdf)

###

See a list of certified wood stoves and other information: (http://www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/air/indoor_woodsmoke/wood_smoke_page.htm)

Tips on getting the most heat from your firewood: (http://burndryfirewood.com/)

Ecology’s website: http://www.ecy.wa.gov

Ecology’s social media: http://www.ecy.wa.gov/about/newmedia.html

In effect July 1 – September 30, 2011

OLYMPIA – The Washington State Department of Natural Resources (DNR) today announced there will be a statewide burn ban on all DNR-protected lands July 1, 2011, through September 30, 2011. This means all forestlands in Washington under DNR fire protection; the burn ban does not apply to federal lands.
The threat of wildfires from escaped outdoor burning is high during the summer months due to dry forest vegetation. Each year, DNR strives to keep all wildfires under 10 acres. Last year, DNR had 71 wildfire starts simply from escaped outdoor burn piles, which burned approximately 153 acres.

“Wildfires are dangerous for people and property and result in large expenditures of public funding that can be avoided through prevention,” said Commissioner of Public Lands Peter Goldmark. The ban will apply to all outdoor burning on DNR-protected forestlands, including currently permitted burns, with the following exceptions:

1. Recreational fires in approved fire pits within designated state, county, municipal or other campgrounds, and
2. DNR-approved prescribed fires, implemented to enhance or restore fire-dependent ecosystems and forest health, when enhancement and restoration by prescribed fire can only be accomplished successfully during the period of time from July 1, 2011 through September 30, 2011, and
3. As approved in writing by DNR when there are compelling reasons for an exception.
The use of gas and propane self-contained stoves and barbeques will continue to be allowed under the ban.
When implemented, the burn ban will take precedence over and supersede all other burn bans currently in effect on DNR-protected forestlands. The burn ban does not apply to federal lands.

DNR’s wildfire mission
Administered by Commissioner of Public Lands Peter Goldmark, DNR is responsible for preventing and fighting wildfires on 12.7 million acres of private, state and tribal-owned forestlands. DNR is the state’s largest on-call fire department, with over 1,000 employees trained and available to be dispatched to fires as needed. During fire season, this includes over 700 DNR employees who have other permanent jobs with the agency and about 375 seasonal workers. Additionally, Department of Correction inmates participate in the DNR correctional camps program. DNR also participates in Washington’s coordinated interagency approach to firefighting.
Media Contact: Janet Pearce, Communications and Outreach, 360-902-1122, janet.pearce@dnr.wa.gov

source: http://www.dnr.wa.gov/RecreationEducation/News/Pages/2011_05_06_burnban_nr.aspx

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – Jan. 24, 2011
11-023

Ecology cancels Stevens County burn ban

OLYMPIA – The Washington Department of Ecology (Ecology) is canceling a burn ban in Stevens County.

Ecology issued the Stage 1 ban for the weekend because of worsening air quality conditions. The ban was set to expire at 4 p.m. today (Monday, Jan. 24), but conditions have improved enough to call off the ban earlier than scheduled.

Cold, stagnant air traps pollution, including smoke from burning wood, close to the ground. Fine particles in smoke are so small they can easily get into your lungs. Once there, they can cause heart and breathing problems, and even death. Children, people with asthma and respiratory illnesses, and adults older than 65 are most at risk.

Under a Stage 1 ban:

• Use of uncertified wood-burning devices – including fireplaces, wood stoves and inserts – is prohibited unless they are a home’s only source of heat.

• All outdoor burning – including residential, agricultural and forest burning – is prohibited.

• Use of certified wood-burning devices and pellet stoves is allowed. Ecology recommends burning hot fires using only clean, dry wood.

• No excessive smoke is allowed from any wood-burning device beyond a 20-minute start-up.

• Burn ban violators are subject to civil penalties.

A 2009 Ecology analysis estimates that fine particles contribute to about 1,100 deaths and millions of dollars in health-care costs each year in Washington. (http://www.ecy.wa.gov/pubs/0902021.pdf)

For news on any future burn bans, check local media reports, Ecology’s daily burn decision hotline (1-800-406-5322) or www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/air/outdoor_woodsmoke/burn_ban.htm.

###

Media Contact: Seth Preston, Ecology communications manager, 360-407-6848; 360-584-5744 cell; seth.preston@ecy.wa.gov

See a list of certified wood stoves and clean burning tips (http://www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/air/indoor_woodsmoke/wood_smoke_page.htm)