Burn ban declared in Pierce, Snohomish counties
SEATTLE - The Puget Sound Clean Air Agency has issued a Stage 1 burn ban in Pierce and Snohomish counties prohibiting the use of fireplaces and uncertified wood stoves until further notice.
The burn ban takes effect at 5 p.m. Saturday.
"After a few lingering showers today, weather conditions are expected to become cold and dry. Air pollution is expected to build up to levels unhealthy for sensitive groups, especially in communities where wood-burning is common," the agency said in a prepared statement.
The cold and stagnant conditions are expected to persist into next week, when a weak system is forecast to arrive and disperse pollution.
The purpose of the burn ban is to reduce the amount of pollution from excessive wood smoke. The Clean Air Agency will continue to closely monitor the situation.
During the burn ban:
• No burning is allowed in fireplaces or uncertified wood stoves. Residents should rely instead on their home’s other, cleaner source of heat (such as their furnace or electric baseboard heaters) for a few days until air quality improves, the public health risk diminishes and the ban is canceled. The only exception is if a wood stove is a home’s only adequate source of heat.
• No outdoor fires are allowed. This includes recreational fires such as bonfires, campfires and the use of fire pits and chimineas.
• Burn ban violations are subject to a $1,000 penalty.
The Clean Air Agency says burn ban enforcement has significantly increased, especially in Tacoma and Pierce County. Increased enforcement and night patrols will increase the likelihood of violators receiving substantial fines this season.
It is permissible to use natural gas, propane, pellet and EPA-certified wood stoves or inserts during a Stage 1 burn ban.
The 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 considered to be especially harmful to people with lung and heart problems, people with diabetes, children, and older adults over age 65.
The burn ban takes effect at 5 p.m. Saturday.
"After a few lingering showers today, weather conditions are expected to become cold and dry. Air pollution is expected to build up to levels unhealthy for sensitive groups, especially in communities where wood-burning is common," the agency said in a prepared statement.
The cold and stagnant conditions are expected to persist into next week, when a weak system is forecast to arrive and disperse pollution.
The purpose of the burn ban is to reduce the amount of pollution from excessive wood smoke. The Clean Air Agency will continue to closely monitor the situation.
During the burn ban:
• No burning is allowed in fireplaces or uncertified wood stoves. Residents should rely instead on their home’s other, cleaner source of heat (such as their furnace or electric baseboard heaters) for a few days until air quality improves, the public health risk diminishes and the ban is canceled. The only exception is if a wood stove is a home’s only adequate source of heat.
• No outdoor fires are allowed. This includes recreational fires such as bonfires, campfires and the use of fire pits and chimineas.
• Burn ban violations are subject to a $1,000 penalty.
The Clean Air Agency says burn ban enforcement has significantly increased, especially in Tacoma and Pierce County. Increased enforcement and night patrols will increase the likelihood of violators receiving substantial fines this season.
It is permissible to use natural gas, propane, pellet and EPA-certified wood stoves or inserts during a Stage 1 burn ban.
The 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 considered to be especially harmful to people with lung and heart problems, people with diabetes, children, and older adults over age 65.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the earth, some 4,200,000,000 (4.2B) Asians, ~60% of the worlds population attempt to stay warm burning wood, coal, oil and anything else that will burn. Sort of pales in comparison.
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How come the burn ban in effect for the counties on either side of King County, but not King County itself? Is there some unique weather condition that is going to exempt those folks?
 @JAP506 Exactly my question! I live right on the King-Snohomish county line, if I could move my fireplace 50 feet south it would be legal to use but where it is I would be running afoul the law to use it. I guess they have to make a line somewhere.
"Puget Sound Clean Air Agency"
Who elected these folks? Who empowered them to enact "RULES" for us to live by?
You can't use your insert or fireplace to heat your home? Says who?
Who appointed them "Clean-Air Czar" for Pierce county?
They have no legislated powers. They are but bearuaecrats(sp) making RULES that we must live by?
I do not recognize their rank to rule over me, do you?
 @ChrisP900 The Puget Sound Clean Air Agency, formerly known as PSAPCA (Puget Sound Air Pollution Control Agency) is an intergovernmental agency created by an act of several county councils in the Puget Sound area. It was formed so as to have ONE agency be responsible for monitoring and promulgating rules for the several counties of the Puget Sound area. As a part of representative government you (editorial you) authorized both the founding of the PSCAA and gave them their powers through electing the representatives of you local county council many years ago.
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It is no different from hundreds, if not thousands of governmental agencies created by legislative branches at all levels of government.
what the hell is this?
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it has been drizzling all damn day - are these fools trying to stay relevant or something?
Another case a big brother gone bad. As they do these patrols how do they know what the chimney they see smoke coming from, or hot through their infrared goggles, is attached to? It could be just a fireplace or that fireplace could just happen to have a certified wood stove insert installed in it. Are they going to come knocking on your door in the middle of the night to find out? Not a wise idea, particularly in the Tacoma/Pierce county area.
 @run4funThey might get "smoked" here in Tacoma.
Apparently the EPA regulates the burn bans for the Indian reservations. We are region 10, including Alaska, Washington, Oregon, and Idaho.Â
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There are currently no burn bans in effect for our tribes, lol.Â
These burn bans irritate the #@&* out of me. What about the people who can't afford astronomical electricity prices and rely on their fireplace or woodstove for heat during these "cold and stagnant conditions?"
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I'm one of the lucky ones that have Elmhurst Power. My power bill this last month was $93. The highest I've ever seen it go was $130. But there are some people that aren't so lucky. I have a friend who has Tacoma Power and her power bill during the winter runs $300+ per month!
 @Tattooed_Angel I honestly don't know how anyone without electric heat can have a power bill of $93 a month in this area. I just paid (or will via Internet on the 3rd) my electric bill for the last TWO months and it was about $75. and I have Snohomish county PUD, one of the most expensive in Washington state.
 @Tattooed_Angel I find it hard to believe that your friend's power bill is $300 per month, especially considering Tacoma is not billed monthly.  Tacoma Public Utilities has everything on one bill: water, sewer, garbage and power.  We live in a single family home and pay about $400 every other month for all of the above.  Mind you, I also pay PSE for gas but it's usually not that high (and if it can run on gas at my house, it does).  If just the power portion of their bill is that high, they need to seriously look at their house and figure out why it's sucking power at an alarming rate.
@stamperzann Your right, she receives her bill every other month and the total for the last 2 months was $692. For just last month's electricity charge it was $328. She lives in an older home which needs quite a bit of work done to it. The windows aren't energy efficient and the cold air seeps right in. The whole house needs to be reinsulated and the roof needs to be replaced, which they are in the process of trying to do now. Her boyfriend is Army and has been stationed over in Korea for the last year so she's been trying to fix the most urgent problems on her own. She's a full time student so they don't have the money to do everything all at once.
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She isn't the only one with those kinds of issues. There are quite a few people I know who rely on a fireplace or woodstove to keep electricity costs down because they can't afford to replace their windows or reinsulate their home. And whenever the PSCAA decides that there is a pollution problem and implements a burn ban, it affects a substantial number of families.
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I find it ridiculous that people can get fined $1000 for trying to stay warm. Maybe the money received from these fines should go to help people pay their electricity bills because they couldn't use their woodstove or fireplace.
@Tattooed_Angel
Well do the old trick of taking it from secondary to primary... take the breaker out of the panel for the heater... you can always put it back... and when asked... all you have to say is it does not work...and removed it from service by taking the breaker out... for safety. and remember when removing breakers always shut down the main breaker when doing anything...
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I know many people have done that before... mainly cause of cost.. plus i know there are a bunch the heater do not work properly and it cost too much to fix when the wood stove is already there rearin to go...
Its pouring down rain here and windy!? If its air pollution it is coming from Asia and Canada. This is plain BS...
I find it somewhat interesting that anyone would actually enforce this.
 @Zoso Trust me, my buddy got at $1200 ticket last year from it.
 @Christopher Collins WOW! They really have to be doing it just to get some money out of it. At least here in King County from what I remember, you could only have it for a period of 20 minutes. (shrugs)
 @Zoso Oh,believe me they do,not sure why the locals have to abide by their rules but will find out,I'm sure its some sort of withdrawal of funds thing,
"conditions are expected to become cold and dry. Air pollution is expected to build up to levels unhealthy for sensitive groups"
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This is the first notice I have seen that is based on weather prediction. Puget Sound Clean Air has continually redefined the trigger levels over the years to the point that a weenie roast will trigger them. This agency has no check and balance system and is free to define "best available science" anyway they like.Â
 @al_wa They wanted to take the weekend off so they just sent out the ban early to cover their backsides while they were out on the town for New Years.
Notice it rarely applies to King County anymore? If you read the available reports on http://www.pscleanair.org you'll find some interesting assumptions that protect King County. Any lawyers want to make their bones?
 How ridiculous with the wind and rain we keep having,at least where I live ! Yes I do think they are on a power trip and need their wings clipped asap. To implement their over reactive BS out in my end of Snohomish county  and expect our fire dept. to enforce it is nothing but a travesty of ignorance with the wind and rain we get in these mountains,they need to come up with local control's ,not somebody in an office 50 miles away from me or my neighbors.Yes I've seen the stagnant smoke filled air in some of cul de sac's near the city,they have no bearing on what goes on in Gold Bar ,or anywhere else east of Monroe.Thank you,now I've expelled my smoke and hot air.Â
 @OldGoldBar My question is why doesn't the ban apply to King county as well? I live right on the King-Snohomish county line, literally the county line is my southern property line. If my fireplace (chimney) were located just fifty feet south of where it is I could legally use my fireplace (not that I have any desire to do so) but where it is I am prohibited. I seriously doubt that the winds and other atmospheric conditions respect the county lines.
"weather conditions to become COLD and dry" so don't use you wood stove to try and stay warm. Just who hired these people that make these decisions and how do we get rid of them ??
 @lmdk2 Most fireplaces are net losers when it comes to heating a house. More heat goes up the chimney than is kept in the house.
@Furd @lmdk2 Fireplaces are losers, yes. But if you have a modern insert in your fireplace or use a woodstove, then you'll be toasty warm with wood heat.
 @lmdk2  @Silvia Thank you and the same to you.
 @Silvia  @Furd  @lmdk2 we do and we are. In Kitsap county. Stay warm and dry and enjoy the New Year.
 @Silvia  @Furd  @lmdk2 My previous home had a huge (for the size of the room and the entire house) brick fireplace in the living room. It needed a large fire and then it could easily toast you out of that room but the other rooms of the house were quite cold. My present home has a little steel fireplace and as a practical matter all it is good for is burning up scrap wood. If you stand right in front of it you can get warm but again, no heat whatsoever in the outer rooms.
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So-called "airtight" stoves and fireplace inserts are an entirely different thing from an open fireplace and CAN often be used as an economical heat source for an entire house under proper design criteria.
@Furd @lmdk2 Sorry. I misunderstood. We have a fireplace that we think of as a fireplace, even though it has an insert...and depending on your floor plan, you may be comfortable in the back bedroom. I speak from experience - we heat our current home only with wood heat (fireplace w/insert and wood stove). We are building a log home with a more open floor plan that we will heat only with a wood stove...I suppose wood heat is an acquired "taste" and lifestyle - it takes a fair amount of effort to use it, and it takes a while to get the house warm in the mornings!
 @Silvia  @Furd  @lmdk2 Maybe, maybe not. It depends upon a number of variables. You might be toasty warm in the room with the wood stove and freezing in the back bedroom. At any rate, my original comment was referring to an open fireplace, not an insert or a stove.
ftlog - power trip- they will make the ban permanent at the first opportunity