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Department of Ecology News Release - August 22, 2002
02-162
SPOKANE -- KXLY television in Spokane and KVEW television in Kennewick have joined forces with the state Department of Ecology (Ecology) to let people in Eastern Washington know when and where agricultural field burning will take place this September and October.
"In the past, people often have been caught unaware, and that can be a serious problem for people with breathing difficulties," said Grant Pfeifer, who manages Ecology's air-quality program in Spokane.
Beginning Monday, Sept. 2, KXLY-TV will air a field-burning "forecast" in Kris Crocker's weather report each evening at 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. and again the next morning during Good Morning Northwest.
At the same time, KVEW-TV will run Thom Spencer's Field-Burning Forecast at 6 and 11 p.m. for residents in the Tri-Cities area.
The field-burning forecast will give people an idea of where burning is likely to take place the next day and how wind direction may affect residents where they live. The forecast is based on both meteorological information and where agricultural-burning permits have been approved for the next day.
In some cases, wind and weather conditions may change during the night or a farmer may decide not to burn for other reasons. KXLY viewers will be urged to check Ecology's agricultural-burning Web page for an update, which will be posted by 9 a.m. each day. The Web page is at http://www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/air/aginfo/agricultural_homepage.htm.
KXLY and KVEW were chosen in a competitive bidding process. Ecology will pay the stations to air the field-burning forecasts.
"Now people will have a place to go to check farmers' burning plans and feel more confident making plans for their own days," said Pfeifer.
Giving citizens notice of when burning will take place was one of the provisions of a legal settlement between Save Our Summers and Ecology in November 2001.
Contact: Jani Gilbert, public information manager, 509-456-4464; pager, 509-622-1289
Copyright © Washington State Department of Ecology. See http://www.ecy.wa.gov/copyright.html.
