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Department of Ecology News Release - September 14, 2006
06-173
By Stu Clark, Air Quality Program Manager, Washington State Department of Ecology
Fall is the season many people get to work sprucing up their yards and landscapes by burning twigs, leaves and other yard waste. While common in the past, the state has been phasing out residential burning in an effort to protect citizens from inhaling smoke.
Beginning in 2007, residential burning and land-clearing burning will no longer be allowed in most towns and communities throughout Washington as a result of the newest stage of the requirements of Washington's Clean Air Act.
Small communities with urban growth areas like Chelan, Leavenworth, Manson, Cashmere, Entiat, Ephrata, George, Connell, Dayton, Colville and Grand Coulee will be affected, as well as numerous small towns in western Washington.
To help people adjust to the new requirements, the Washington Department of Ecology this fall is asking people to "Learn not to Burn." Instead, consider composting, mulching and chipping your yard waste. It will add beauty to your landscape, and it will protect you, your family and your neighbors from unnecessary exposure to smoke.
Ecology understands that this will be a change for many individuals. To help ease the transition, Ecology will be providing information to residents and local governments on practical and simple ways to handle their yard waste.
Since the passage of the Clean Air Act in 1991, the state has been seeking to balance the practical uses of fire against the very real need to protect citizens from unnecessary exposure to inhaling smoke's dangerous toxins and particulates.
Particularly at risk are those with asthma and respiratory illnesses, children and the elderly. Smoke also interferes with our everyday enjoyment and in many areas of Washington jeopardizes the important tourist industry.
Unattended fires are a threat to our safety and can ignite wildfires. Overtaxed local fire departments must respond to fires that get out of control and are often caught in the middle of disputes between neighbors over burning.
Many communities offer programs so people don't have to burn yard waste. Composting, chipping, curbside pickup and seasonal clean-up days are ways people can dispose of yard waste.
For example, Mesa and Dayton both have community managed compost piles, and many small towns have spring cleanup programs and chippers available for local use.
In addition, Washington State University extension services provide master composting programs where people can learn to turn their yard waste into mulch and rich soil amendment.
For more information on alternatives to burning where you live, you may call your local city or county solid waste management program. Before burning, check the rules by calling the Department of Ecology, your local fire department, county planning office or local air authority.
What are the rules? The new ban affects cities with populations of 5,000 and less, and their associated urban growth areas (UGAs). Burning was banned in larger cities with UGAs in 2001. The land-clearing ban includes communities if they have population densities of 1,000 people or more, even if they are not under the Growth Management Act.
Outdoor burning in this instance means backyard and land-clearing burning. By law, agricultural burning, silvicultural (forest) burning, and burning of flood/storm debris or burning for emergencies are not affected.
The Legislature approved the plan to phase-in residential burn bans as part of Washington's Clean Air Act. When the law was first passed in 1991, the ban on outdoor burning was delayed until 2001 so that counties and cities would have time to develop local programs for handling yard waste and land-clearing debris.
In 1998, legislators gave smaller communities until the end of 2006 to make these preparations. This past legislative session, the Legislature made an additional $4 million available in grants that emphasize organics composting and conversion, green building and moderate risk waste projects that are part of the state's Beyond Waste Plan. Counties are eligible to apply for state grants to fund organic waste and other recycling programs and moderate risk waste collection.
Since 2001, residential and land clearing fires have been banned in cities and urban growth areas with populations greater than 5,000. Burning garbage, treated wood and manmade products has been outlawed since the 1970s, as are burn barrels.
What about smoke from agriculture and forest burning? Over the last decade, the state has been working with farmers and forest managers to reduce the amount of smoke they generate. Forest managers use fire to improve the health of our forests. Farmers sometimes burn their land before planting a new crop or to eliminate a pest infestation.
Before wheat fields or orchard trees may be burned, farmers must receive permission from either the Department of Ecology or the local air authority. Burns may only be conducted when air movement (ventilation) is good. In recent years, wheat growers have reduced the number of acres they burn by nearly 50 percent. Orchard farmers are also exploring alternatives to burning, such as chipping their wood. Burning grass-seed stubble is banned.
Intentional forest burning, known as prescribed burning, also must be conducted under strict guidelines. Both public and private forest land owners, such as the US Forest Service, who wish to conduct prescribed burning must receive permission from the Washington Department of Natural Resources, which uses sophisticated meteorological modeling tools to determine good days for burning. The Forest Service regularly announces when it will be conducting prescribed burns, and must keep fires to a manageable size.
Where can I get more information? More information is available on line at: www.ecy.wa.gov , click on the outdoor burning link. Or you may call the Department of Ecology's Air Quality program:
Residents in Western Washington (except San Juan County), Benton, Spokane and Yakima counties should contact their local air authorities, online at http://www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/air/pdfs/local_map.pdf .
Working together, we can make sure Washington's air is clean and healthy.
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Stu Clark is Air Quality program manager for the Washington Department of Ecology. His office is in Olympia. Ecology air quality staff stationed in regional offices in Spokane, Yakima and Bellevue serve Washington communities not otherwise served by regional air authorities.
Media contact: Glenn Kuper, public information manager, (360) 407-6848
(through 9/15)
Joye Redfield-Wilder, public information manager, (509) 575-2610 (after 9/15)
Copyright © Washington State Department of Ecology. See http://www.ecy.wa.gov/copyright.html.
