More burn bans issued as air pollution levels rise in W. Wash.
SEATTLE - Burn bans have been issued in four Western Washington counties as cold, stagnant weather conditions persist in the Puget Sound lowlands.
A Stage 2 burn ban - which prohibits use of woodstoves, pellet stoves or fireplaces - takes effect at noon Sunday in King, Pierce and Snohomish counties. A Stage 2 ban also took effect at 10 a.m. Sunday in Thurston County.
The Puget Sound Clean Air Agency says the bans were triggered by rising air pollution levels. The bans are in effect until further notice.
During a Stage 2 burn ban:
• No burning is allowed in any wood-burning fireplaces, wood stoves or fireplace inserts (certified or uncertified) or pellet 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 cancelled. 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. The Seattle Parks Department also specifically prohibits beach fires at Alki and Golden Gardens during the burn ban.
Burn ban violations are subject to a $1,000 penalty.
It is OK to use natural gas and propane stoves or inserts during a Stage 2 burn ban.
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).
A Stage 2 burn ban - which prohibits use of woodstoves, pellet stoves or fireplaces - takes effect at noon Sunday in King, Pierce and Snohomish counties. A Stage 2 ban also took effect at 10 a.m. Sunday in Thurston County.
The Puget Sound Clean Air Agency says the bans were triggered by rising air pollution levels. The bans are in effect until further notice.
During a Stage 2 burn ban:
• No burning is allowed in any wood-burning fireplaces, wood stoves or fireplace inserts (certified or uncertified) or pellet 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 cancelled. 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. The Seattle Parks Department also specifically prohibits beach fires at Alki and Golden Gardens during the burn ban.
Burn ban violations are subject to a $1,000 penalty.
It is OK to use natural gas and propane stoves or inserts during a Stage 2 burn ban.
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).
Can't understand why in the 21st century people continue to burn plants to stay warm.
@mstipton Plants are renewable. Fossil fuels are not...we burn trees from our property - mostly trees that have come down in storms. We also burn scrap lumber from building projects - wood that would otherwise go to waste. We plant new trees every year - are constantly rebuilding our forest. You can't "replant" fossil fuels. You use gas/oil and it's gone. Forever.
When the gov. starts paying my heating bills I will stop burning. I get firewood for free and so I burn it. Real nice that when it gets real cold a burn ban is issued. Just more $$ in the utilities and governments pockets. They can all kiss my a**.
The people of this state and of this country are already being penalized through overtaxation and higher utility costs as a result of an out of control and overbearing government. With the onslaught of more regulation and additional restrictive laws the threat of penalties is now meaningless. In order for the people to abide by all these restrictions, they merely need to penalize themselves through the cost of paying higher utility bills. Only an arrogant and out of control government can threaten its citizenry yet spend money as if there is no end to it all! For it can tax and it can penalize its citizens for any and all the additional monies it routinely deficit spends. The time for this to stop is now!Â
@javajoe All that because of a burn ban? I think you have bigger issues here.
 @javajoe Hear hear Joe... darn our children's lungs in the name of "liberty"
 I have two wood stoves going and I hope you all suck the smoke into your lungs and croak like Frogs in Seattle.
@Cliff Trudeau I hope you get a $1,000 fine.
@mstipton Not if it is my primary source of heat you fool!
 @Cliff Trudeau Excellent. I have one going and it will stay going.
 @Cliff Trudeau Yes Cliff... it's that sort of self interest that has made America great!
Some great people in Washington. Wish you ALL health and happiness forever. Bye now.
 @Tom Gillilan Good riddance. Come back when you can support your assertions with data.
What cracks me up is the poster here that claims they have COPD or heart failure and yet continues to defend wood smoke. This reminds me of my friend that has had four heart attacks and continues to smoke. Or the guy that wears a nicotine patch on his arm while smoking a cigarette. Or the guy that drank 21 shots of booze on his 21st birthday (died of alcohol poisoning) Defend your heating methods if you must, but DO NOT try to tell us that smoke is HARMLESS (that is just stupid)
 @Justin Case Justin... your logic is not welcome in the KOMO posting board!! Begonewithyou! Yes... it's all one word
 @Justin Case Chiefly because posters here on the Komo forums generally abhor logic. I've learned however, if you type illogical or absolutely asinine statements like... "down with government".... or... "I'd burn my money for warmth rather than pay it in taxes!" they all cheer and doing high fivin' white guy stuff... which is fun.Â
Not too worried about dying from wood smoke inhalation here, especially considering we are at the tail end of a 75-day-straight streak of rainy days and will most likely enter another such streak way too soon...Mr. Tom, can't you leave us alone? Let us have our pleasures/coping mechanisms.
^^http://www.komonews.com/weather/blogs/scott/Seattle-75-days-of-sun-followed-by-75-days-of-rain-184831921.html
<i>"We have never been asked to not burn wood by our ill neighbors. Wood burning is just a way of life for most of us out here; you are the only person I know of that has the rudeness to challenge it."</i> (Sylvia)
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There was a time not too long ago where, if someone lit up a cigarette in your home, it would have been considered 'rude' to ask them not to smoke in your house. Times sure have changed, haven't they. My point is that it is NOT "rude" to bring up the fact that ambient woodsmoke is a clear and present danger. No more rude than to inform someone that there is radon gas in their basement or arsenic in their wellwater. Or that they have had a bit too much to drink. Or that they might be wrong about something.
 @Justin Case thank goodness your ill neighbors are willing to die in peace, and not complain! We've had enough of those "your smoke is killing me" complainers. What we really need are a return of smelters... now those things were cool!
Well, living in rural King County in a home whose primary heat source is wood and having a certified (I think) fireplace insert I have a roaring fire going.Â
 @Iconoclast Amen brother... Amen!
 @Iconoclast In response to SILVIA
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HEALTH DID
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 @Tom Gillilan  @newdragon with a bow please!
 @newdragon You like surprises.
 @Iconoclast Burning wood in a rural area with low population density is appropriate under most circumstances. Burning wood in an urban area with moderate to high population density is inappropriate under most circumstances.
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Wood is the fuel that warms you twice.
@Tom Gillilan @Iconoclast Who made you judge of what is appropriate and what isn't?
Some really good comments here. Wood burners are easy to spot. Like an alcoholic, bad habits are difficult to break.
 @Tom Gillilan Yes, staying warm and healthy using a renewable and inexpensive fuel source is just like being an alcoholic.
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 @Iconoclast It is not inexpensive at all for your neighbors. They pay for it with their loss of health, and shortened life spans.
 @Tom Gillilan Huh?
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 @Iconoclast If I was living near you are and there was no other way to stay warm, I'd sneak over to your woodpile and help myself to some free wood.
 @Tom Gillilan You have no factual evidence to keep commenting! You are ignorant to the situation and need to stop posting information that is not correct!!
 @Tom Gillilan They heat with wood as well.  Sort of a Jonestown of wood smoke out here.
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We could all stay cold and get ill from being so cold. That would be so much better. Or spend $300/month on trying to use space heaters to heat our homes and find ourselves bankrupt. Would you prefer that? Of course you would.
I find it hard to understand that wood smoke is killing people, when it was has always been used as a source of heat for centeries. Does anyone ever think, that the planet has natural sources that we are supposed to use and trees is one of the money, we are supposed to use tree's for there wood, just like we use fruit tree's for fruit. Does anyone ever think that maybe we are all supposed to die, that maybe all these "illnesses" have always been around but as a way of natural population control? Or that most of these cacer causing chemicals dont really cause as much cancer as scientists are saying they are? That maybe its from somthing else, not exactly wood smoke but from other things. Like propane or natural gas.
@@amber@ the FDA and other agencies don't think as they just want more money. Give me a break about this woodstove smoke when most of you against it are eating GMO and Fortified garbage from the grocery store while drinking your plastic bottled water getting your toxic flu shot every year. I could go on with the list of crap that is killing you more than someone keeping warm with a woodstove. Not only that but my woodstove cooked up a nice pot of deer meat stew so my carbon footprint is much smaller than you eco nuts using petroleum products to heat your homes. Where do you think your electricity comes from?
 @@amber@ I am allergic to wood including wood smoke. It also triggers asthma attacks which most often results in me taking a trip to the hospital. I would prefer to avoid those costs and breath clean air so I am all for the burn ban.  Asthma attacks when not treated right away (such as the case with elderly who can't get to the hospital in a timely fashion or can't afford it), can result in a heart attack. So I can see people potentially dying from wood smoke.Â
@PrairieDawn @@amber@ Go back to the Praire and let us burn our wood in our stoves so the seattlites can breath in our smoke from our wood stoves so they cn croak like frogs
@PrairieDawn @@amber@ People can potentially die of darned near anything. I also have asthma, and I burn wood for heat. In fact, we normally heat our house with two (certified) wood stoves! Wood is a renewable fuel, by the way - fossil fuels are not. People get congestive heart failure from many things, such as poor diet and stressing about things like *bad* wood smoke!
@Tom Gillilan @Silvia @PrairieDawn Cardiovascular disease is reversible and wood stove smoke has nothing to do with it. Corn is number one on the FDA's most toxic food item list. Corn is used in everything we eat and fed to everything we eat. It is our food chain causing cardiovascular issues as we are Omega 3 deficient and overloaded with Omega 6. Not too mention vitam B deficient as well as deficient in our consumption of fiber. ALL of these contribute to your blood clots and cardiovascular disease as our bodies immune system is working full time as a janitor to rid our bodies of the abundance of toxins we EAT! Instead of $300 a month in electricity I am better off spending $75 per month in preventative measures with quality cod liver oil, organic whole flax seed and various supplements that are no longer in our food chain. Like I said cardiovascular disease can be reversed at a much cheaper cost than open heart surgery but someone like you wouldn't know that as you believe the EPA, FDA, USDA and other organizations actually care about your health this is why the government gave you the great Obamacare Health Plan. LOL!
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 @IronWafflez Wood smoke causes blood clots, although not commonly. Of the three ways that wood smoke kills, all-cause mortality happens least often. Cardiovascular mortality is common and respiratory mortality is more common.
 @Tom Gillilan This doesn't make sense to me:
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"First is the all-cause mortality, say from wood smoke directly causing a blood clot in your leg to form and that clot breaks loose and travels to your brain and you suffer a debilitating stroke."
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Are you saying that wood smoke causes DVT? This is the first I have heard of that.Â
 @Silvia  @PrairieDawn Reply to Sylvia
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There are three main ways that wood smoke kills.
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First is the all-cause mortality, say from wood smoke directly causing a blood clot in your leg to form and that clot breaks loose and travels to your brain and you suffer a debilitating stroke.
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Second is cardiovascular mortality, say from wood smoke directly causing atherosclerosis which leads to a heart attack.
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Third is respiratory mortality, from the damage done directly to lung tissue cells. Bronchitis leads to COPD and emphysema and other serious breathing problems.
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You are using wood for heat and inhaling the toxic smoke chemicals on a regular basis, and because you have a human body just like the rest of us, you are paying for it with your health, whether you realize it or not.
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If you had a choice and the fuel was free, you would NEVER heat your house with wood ever again.
@Tom Gillilan @PrairieDawn One of my neighbors has congestive heart failure. I know that for a fact. I also know that another neighbor has COPD. I have asthma. All of us in this neighborhood burn wood, for most of us, it is our main (although not only, alas) source of heat. We have never been asked to not burn wood by our ill neighbors. Wood burning is just a way of life for most of us out here; you are the only person I know of that has the rudeness to challenge it.
 @Silvia  @PrairieDawn For someone with congestive heart failure, breathing wood smoke is deadly. If you knew that one of your neighbors had congestive heart failure, would you still burn wood?
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If you knew that one of your neighbors had asthma, would you still burn wood?
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If you knew that one of your neighbors had COPD, would you still burn wood?
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I know the answer, and the answer is yes you would.
 @PrairieDawn  @@amber@ They don't potentially die, they DO die. My friend had congestive heart failure and for three days found himself trapped in a place with high wood smoke concentration. He didn't make it to the fourth day. He died.
@Tom Gillilan @PrairieDawn @@amber@ What caused your friends congestive heart failure to begin with? Was he a stupid painter that didn't take the precautionary measures to wear a mask while painting 20 years ago and his lungs got burned? Did he smoke? Do you really understand what congestive heart failure is? Inhaling woodstove smoke unless you're stupid enough to put your face into the stove pipe day after day isn't going to give anyone congestive heart failure. Many asthma cases today are allergy related and much of that is related to the garbage food the FDA has allowed into our food chain. I'm sure the autopsy report on your friend listed his death related to the wood smoke concentration he was "trapped" into inhaling. LOL!
 @Tom Gillilan  @newdragon Ya coming on strong to peoples pocket book.
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Natural gas production emits benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylenes (BTEX) as well as n-hexane and VOC.Benzene Exposure to benzene may cause Irritation of the skin, eyes, and upper respiratory tract.Blisters on the skin. Exposure to benzene over a long period of time may cause blood disorders, reproductive and developmental disorders, and cancer. EPA's Health Effects Notebook has more information related to the potential health effects of exposure to benzene. Toluene Exposure to toluene over a long time may cause nervous system effects, irritation of the skin, eyes, and respiratory tract, dizziness, headaches, difficulty with sleep, birth defects.EPA's Health Effects Notebook has more information related to the potential health effects of exposure to toluene. Ethylbenzene Short-term exposure may cause throat and eye irritation, chest constriction, and dizziness.Long-term exposure may cause blood disorders.EPA's Health Effects Notebook has more information related to the potential health effects of exposure to ethylbenzene. Xylenes Short-term exposure to high levels of mixed xylenes may cause Irritation of the nose and throat.Nausea.Vomiting.Gastric irritation.Mild transient eye irritation.Neurological effects. Long-term exposure to high levels of xylene may impact the nervous system.EPA's Health Effects Notebook has more information related to the potential health effects of exposure to xylenes. n-Hexane Short-term exposure to hexane can cause dizziness, giddiness, slight nausea, and a headache.Long-term exposure to hexane can cause numbness in extremities, muscular weakness, blurred vision, headaches, and fatigue.EPA's Health Effects Notebook has more information related to the potential health effects of exposure to hexane. VOC VOC is released during the production of oil and natural gas.The chemicals in VOC can form ground-level ozone (smog) which can cause breathing difficulties, especially with those who are young, elderly, or have existing respiratory problems such as asthma.EPA has an extensive Web site devoted to ground-level ozone.
For more information on the toxicity of these pollutants, check out information on the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS). EPA also has more information available at its Air Toxics Web site.
 @Tom Gillilan  @newdragon Maybe you should turn to look east and look into the danger of fracking.Â
 @newdragon The world is a changing. People who burn wood are now being noticed and with each passing year will become more and more stigmatized and ostracized and it is they who will be asked to clean their act or leave, especially now that clean burning natural gas is coming on strong.
 @@amber@ A recent study has conclusively shown that wood smoke is PUBLIC ENEMY NUMBER ONE. It increases mortality rates and significantly shortens life spans especially in men.
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WOOD SMOKE KILLS
 @Tom Gillilan  @@amber@ Public enemy number one are politicians.
 @Tom Gillilan  @@amber@ It sounds like we are grossly underpaying our firefighters.Â
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 @newdragon How would you know? There are people with killer allergies. Noob.
 @Tom Gillilan  @@amber@ you can live in china where they have good air over there.
 @Tom Gillilan  @@amber@ i HIGHLY doubt that fairbanks pegs out the pollution readers.
 @beetle73  @@amber@ Fairbanks Alaska has air pollution every bit as terrible as anywhere in China. The main culprit is wood smoke.
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