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Department of Ecology News Release - July 8, 2004
04-133
SPOKANE - This summer, residents of Eastern Washington and northern Idaho can tune into KXLY television each night to find out if smoke from agricultural burning might affect their neighborhoods.
Last summer, KXLY and its sister station, KEVW in Kennewick, joined forces with the Washington State Department of Ecology (Ecology) to let people in Eastern Washington know when and where agricultural field burning will take place during September and October. This year, the service will be expanded to four months and will cover Idaho as well.
Beginning Monday, July 12, KXLY-TV will air the 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.
Beginning in September, KVEW will run Nick Allard's Field Burning Forecast at 6 and 11 p.m. for residents in the Tri-Cities area.
"The goal is to let everyone in the Inland Northwest know when and where burning will take place so they can plan accordingly," said Grant Pfeifer, who manages Ecology's air-quality program in Spokane.
In Idaho, field burning begins in July. Some agricultural field burning begins in Washington then as well, although most occurs in the fall. The field-burning forecast will run through October to accommodate burn seasons in both states.
The forecast gives people an idea of where burning is likely to take place the next day and how wind direction may affect residents where they live. It 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 in Washington 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.
The states will pay the stations to air the field-burning forecasts. The stations were selected through a competitive bidding process.
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.
"This system has helped give advance warning to those with heart or lung problems," said Patti Gora of Save Our Summers. "It is essential that state governments cooperate to warn local people about field burning, rather than to risk needless injury."
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Contact: Jani Gilbert, Ecology, 509-329-3495; pager, 509-622-3073
Field-burning Web site: http://www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/air/aginfo/agricultural_homepage.htm
Copyright © Washington State Department of Ecology. See http://www.ecy.wa.gov/copyright.html.
