Anyone thinking of firing up their wood stove or pellet stove today, no matter how new and clean-burning it may be, should think again.
The Puget Sound Clean Air Agency on Monday announced a ban on burning any wood product, indoors or out, unless it’s the only source of heat for the household.
The ban likely will remain in effect at least until Thursday.
The only exceptions are for stoves or inserts that burn natural gas or propane or furnaces.
The agency, responsible for monitoring the air in Snohomish, King, Pierce and Kitsap counties, said in November it would call such bans at a much lower pollution threshold than in the past, in keeping with tighter federal standards.
On Monday, the air reached that threshold. The last “stage 2” ban called by the agency was in 1991, according to Kimberley Cline, a spokeswoman for the agency. Then, however, the pollution level required for a stage 2 ban was much higher than it is today.
The agency has 14 air-quality monitors in the four-county area, said Mike Gilroy, the agency’s chief meteorologist who called the ban. For a stage 2 ban to be called now, two or three of these monitors have to show 25 micrograms or more of particulate matter per cubic meter averaged over 24 hours, he said.
Monday, the count in Marysville had reached 30 micrograms, he said.
Also, the weather forecast is showing that the inversion layer in effect on Sunday and Monday — which traps pollutants close to the ground — likely will hang around for a few more days, Gilroy said.
Marysville has been plagued with high wintertime pollution levels for several years, primarily due to the burning of wood for heat, he said.
The monitor at Totem Middle School in downtown Marysville is “one of the highest reading ones in Western Washington,” Gilroy said.
That’s why the agency is offering rebates to Marysville residents to encourage them to switch out their old stoves for cleaner burning woodstoves, pellet stoves, or better yet, propane or natural gas.
Violating the burn ban costs $1,000. An inspector for the Clean Air Agency has to see smoke coming out of the chimney to write a ticket, either by happening upon it or by responding to a complaint.
As with all wintertime burn bans, anyone who can show that their wood stove is their sole source of heat won’t have to pay the fine. They still may be issued a ticket up front, though, and will have to file an appeal with the Clean Air Agency.
A “stage 1” ban, under which cleaner burning wood and pellet stoves may be used, was called on Sunday. This can be called at any time if it appears the weather will create the inversion layer that causes pollution levels to rise, Gilroy said.
The agency held off until today to send its 14 inspectors into the field, Cline said. This gives people more of a chance to hear about the ban, she said.
“We issue (the bans) at noon with the intent of actively beginning patrolling the next morning,” she said.
Reporter Bill Sheets: 425-339-3439 or sheets@heraldnet.com.
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